There Can Be Only One
by patricia51
Summary: Immortals Katniss Everdeen and Clove Honor cross paths over the centuries as the Game and their own journeys take them. From opponents they grow to be friends and finally lovers. Femslash. Katniss/Clove. Set in the world of the TV series "Highlander".
1. Here we are, born to be kings

There be Only One, Chapter 1

(Immortals Katniss Everdeen and Clove Honor cross paths over the centuries as the Game and their own journeys take them. From opponents they grow to be friends and finally lovers. Femslash. Katniss/Clove.)

("From the Dawn of Time we came, moving silently down through the centuries. Living many secret lives. Struggling to reach the Time of the Gathering, when the few who remain will battle to the last. No one has ever known we were among you...until now." Sean Connery "Highlander" the movie.)

(This story is set in the world of the Movies/TV series "Highlander". I don't consider it a crossover even though some characters from "Highlander" will appear. The story is centered around Katniss and Clove. For those not familiar "Highlander" supposes that Immortals are among us. They stop aging the first time they are killed. The only way they can be killed for good is to be beheaded. If this is done by another Immortal that one gains the loser's power. They can sense when another Immortal is nearby. Over all is "The Game"; the rules that they live and fight by until in the end "there can be only one" (sounds familiar doesn't it?))

(Here we are, born to be kings)

(New York City, Present Day)

"You would think for what I pay for parking here by the month I would just be able to whip right into my space," Katniss Everdeen mumbled under her breath. Then she grinned. Well maybe all New Yorkers were supposed to drive compact SUV's and stuff like that. Most of the vehicles around her DID look puny compared to her Crew Cab F-250 4 wheel drive Pickup Truck. "You can take girl out of the country but not the country out of the girl," she reminded herself. She cut the engine and the rumbling diesel fell silent.

It was getting time to at least think about moving on anyway. She had been here for over twenty five years now and some of the comments about her seeming lack of aging were beginning to get a little pointed. Well it had happened before and doubtlessly would happen again. But it was getting harder and harder to assume a new identity as the world grew smaller. Once it was simply a matter of moving a hundred miles. Now it took documents on top of more documents all of which had to be obtained at an increasingly steep cost.

Well that was the price for being Immortal. One of them anyway; along with outliving everyone around her and everyone she had ever loved.

"God, get a hold of yourself Katniss," she scolded herself. She was a long way from the barefoot Irish farm girl she had once been. She could afford those documents and pretty much anything else she wanted, having carefully invested her money over the years. And besides, an impish grin crossed her face as she thought of a certain brown haired girl whom she had just heard from the week before. Clove was also thinking about moving and it had taken no more than the slightest hint before the pair of them had been on the phone discussing where they might live next.

Clove had voted for South America; Argentina perhaps or Brazil while Katniss was still holding out for Paris, at least for ten years or so. Well they would work it out. They always did.

Katniss frowned for a moment. It had been ten, no fifteen years at least, since she had seen Clove. How had they let so much time go by apart? Of course time was one thing they had plenty of. Besides, when you've been together for a few hundred years it makes sense to take a break from each other every now and then. She was really amazed at how Gina and Robert de Valicourt had managed to stay married, and together, for three hundred years. She deeply loved Clove but sometimes the tough English Immortal girl was more than a handful.

Well all this wool gathering wasn't getting the bills paid. Katniss climbed down from her truck, reaching back in to grab her briefcase. Owner and one of two employees of a respected financial planning and advisement company she had visited three old clients and one new one today and now needed to finish up the paperwork. Especially for the new people, a sweet couple of the verge of retirement who needed investment help. Katniss looked forward to making sure that couple had worry free golden years. She was as good at that as she had been at poaching deer centuries ago.

She closed the truck door and locked it with the remote. And then it hit her, the sudden unexplainable sensation that let her know another Immortal was nearby.

Friend or foe? That was always the question. And it might be someone she had never met before, someone she was just bumping into by accident. It could be an old friend. She knew one day the time of "The Gathering" would catch up to them and there could no longer be friends, only a single victor. But not yet. She hoped. So maybe a friend or someone who might become one. Not she shied away from a fight when it was presented to her but she preferred to have a little warning. A silk blouse, short skirt with matching suit jacket, sheer pantyhose and three inch heels were NOT her preferred costume for a fight. She debated jumping back in the truck and taking off. But if it was indeed someone hunting her than it was best to go ahead and get things over with. Much better than being in a position where she only felt the other Immortal when his or her sword was arching towards her neck.

She unlocked the truck again but opened the back seat door instead of the driver's one. Keeping an eye on the area around her she groped for the hidden sheath; giving a sigh of relief as her fingers curled over the familiar hilt of her sword. It slid out silently. She held it by her side and waited for the unknown person to make the next move.

That move sounded as leather scraped against the concrete floor and then broke into the thud of running footsteps. Katniss sprang away from her truck, her sword coming up to guard as a dark figure launched itself at her, a length of shinning steel streaking for her head.

"Clang!" The swords crossed deafeningly. Katniss staggered slightly. The other was stronger than her. Also she could see the attacker was wearing boots, a much better choice for combat than her heels. With that the slender Irish Immortal kicked the three hundred dollar shoes off and met the next swing in her stocking feet.

The other's sword was heavier than her saber and he, Katniss was certain the attacker was male, was using both hands, giving extra power to his blows. She fought on the defensive at first, getting a feel for his swordplay. He most likely wasn't a stranger; she had encountered his fighting style before. That was a good thing for when he tried to rush her and force her back into a corner she was able to slip sideways and remain where she could use her greater agility. She also more than matched his strength with her speed and used that to begin to take the offensive. Soon she was launching the majority of attacks and he was starting to fall back. His retreat took him out of the shadows and into the harsh light of the garage's fluorescent tubes.

"Well Marvel," she spared a breath to acknowledge her old foe, "it's been a while."

"And now it's the last time," he returned although without the usual cocksureness she had come to expect from him. She grinned. He knew he didn't have the upper hand in this fight. She feinted and when his point momentarily dropped her blade changed course. Using both hands herself she aimed a vicious cut at his neck. Had he not stepped on something the fight may have been over. As it was he slipped, staggered and fell to one knee. The keen edge of the saber flew over him, taking a lock of hair but nothing more. Off balance herself Katniss stumbled. Marvel took the opportunity to regain his feet and then he was gone.

For an instant Katniss debated chasing him. Sooner or later this would have to come to an end. Generally she was a live-and-let-live person but Marvel and the group he belonged to were always after her and Clove as well. Clove even more than her, after all, there's no one you hate quite like a former ally. Of course taking her head would make them happy too; after all, it was because Clove had fallen in love with her that caused the English Immortal girl to turn against Marvel, Cato, Glimmer and the occasional other Immortals they formed an alliance with. But the footsteps were fading and although centuries ago being barefoot was the norm for her she had worn shoes too long now to go chasing through this concrete canyon in nothing but her ripped up pantyhose.

Speaking of shoes, she thought, she returned her saber to its hiding place and began to look for her heels. She found the first one and then the other. The second one apparently was what Marvel had slipped on. She shot a furious glare in the direction he had disappeared in. Now she was really angry. The heel was broken off and the leather was scraped. Three hundred dollars down the drain. Then she threw back her head and laughed.

For many, many years the idea of three hundred pieces of money, even English pence, would have been a sum so vast she couldn't have even grasped the idea. Now she spent it on shoes without a thought. Still grinning she tossed the ruined shoes into the back floorboards. She looked around. Not that she expected to see anyone, Marvel would have scouted the parking garage before launching his attack but it never hurt to check for oneself. Satisfied she wiggled her skirt up and yanked down her pantyhose. They followed her heels into the truck. She picked up her briefcase, locked the truck again and walked to the elevator.

Her secretary and friend Sally lifted an eyebrow when Katniss strolled into the office barefoot and with her expensive suit rumpled but other than that she made no comment. Katniss checked the clock on the desk and returned the eyebrow gesture.

"What are you still doing here?"

"Working?" Sally returned innocently.

"With what I pay you that should be twenty four seven," Katniss sniffed. In reality she not only paid Sally a good salary but the other girl received a share of the profits. But their mutual teasing was part of their friendship. "Still," she pretended to narrow her eyes, "you need to go home and snuggle with that handsome husband of yours. Anything I brought back now can wait till tomorrow."

Sally gathered her things up. "I will do that and enjoy it but then you'll probably be here until midnight on that stuff that 'can wait till tomorrow'. When are YOU going to find someone nice to settle down with?"

Her friend was well aware of Katniss's preference in partners. She had seen her friend and boss out with some very attractive women over the years they had worked together. But it was rare that she saw the same one twice. Interestingly Katniss had never brought a date with her when she accepted one of the often extended invitations to visit Sally and her husband Jim. She said she just liked to bask in how the two of them felt about each other and the idea of a fourth person just didn't seem to fit. They pair weren't sure what she meant by that but accepted it.

They were very fond of Katniss even though they acknowledged that in many ways they knew very little about her. She didn't seem to have any family. In fact she didn't seem to have any history much beyond the brokerage house she and Sally had been working at until Katniss had struck out on her own and made Sally a staggering offer that she couldn't refuse.

About the only other things that they knew was that Katniss was wealthy, so much so that they sometimes wondered why she worked. She enjoyed herself but also contributed to many causes. And sometime, every now and then, she slipped into an Irish accent just for a little bit.

But she was their friend and friends don't pry.

"Okay, I'll see you in the morning then."

"Goodnight Sally."

Katniss smiled as her friend left. Sally and Jim were so sweet and worked so hard at respecting her privacy. Friends like that were rare. She sighed. She hated to leave them but she had left mortal friends many times before. She smiled and dug into her briefcase and spread out the papers in it; papers that included certified copies of the legal transfer of ownership of the company from her to them. It was her going-away gift.

She had already decided on moving on she reminded herself. Marvel's appearance only set her decision in stone.

The dark haired woman picked up the phone. She punched in an overseas number she had recently memorized.

"Hey, it's me. No I DON'T know what time it is in Singapore. Did I interrupt anything important?" She smiled. "Well thank you, you're on the top of my important list too." Her face turned serious. "Marvel's here. Yes we had a little set-to in the parking garage a little while ago. No I'm fine. But where there's one there's the others and I'm not Duncan MacLeod and capable of handling a half-dozen others at one time."

"Speaking of Duncan he's in Paris right now I believe. We could stop by and visit him. Seriously. Please? Paris at least and we can discuss Duncan later. I WAS only thinking of saying hello. He's a good friend. Oh my God Clove it was one time a hundred years ago and all three of us were carried away. He's not that kind of guy."

"Okay I have to make reservations and finish things here. Yes I have been planning this for a while."

She paused and listened, making a few notes.

"Got it. And Clove? I love you."

Katniss was smiling happily a she hung up the phone after Clove's reply. Then she dug into the paperwork. It was the wee hours of the morning before she finished but she was satisfied she had everything set up for Sally and Jim and for all the clients. She scribbled a note to Sally and placed it on the other woman's desk.

Maybe she should have waited until she could say her goodbyes in person. But there had been so many of those over the centuries. And they didn't get any easier. Not since the very first ones.

She cast one final look around the office and switched off the lights as she left. She didn't look back.

(To be continued)

(By the way, chapter titles are taken from Queen's "Princes of the universe", the main theme song for the first movie and the TV series. Gina and Robert de Valicourt are from episode 4x20 "Till Death". And I was so busy concentrating and review TV episodes I really, genuinely forgot the original MOVIE opened with a fight in a parking garage. *Sigh* The onset of old age is obviously upon me.)


	2. We're the princes of the universe

There be Only One, Chapter 2 by patricia51

(We're the princes of the universe)

(County Kildare, Ireland 1535)

A slender solitary figure moved slowly up to and then through the wide open gates of the castle on top of the hill. It paused occasionally, bending over to examine one motionless form after another. Very few had made it this far.

The figure paused and then threw back the hood of the cloak that shrouded it, revealing the face of a young woman. Red hair cascaded over her shoulders, well matched by green eyes. Those eyes often sparkled but nothing was revealed in them now but deep sadness. She took a breath and steeled herself as she entered the main courtyard of Maynooth.

Nothing moved there except the myriad of carrion crows that rose squawking in complaint. The woman ignored them. She continued to check bodies, ignoring the blood and various body parts as well as the ever increasing smell of death. It took time but finally she found the body she was looking for.

It was that of a dark haired young woman, younger than her, no more than in her late teens. Dark hair had been pulled back in a braid that reached half way down her back. A broken bow was still clenched in one hand. The woman noted three English soldiers nearby with arrows jutting from their bodies.

The girl's other hand covered the hole in her breast where a spear had thrust into it and through her heart. Shaking her head at this sight the young woman knelt beside the body. She grasped the broken shaft and with a strength that would have surprised any living human onlooker pulled it from the girl. She tossed it away and moved the body to a more comfortable position. Then she waited.

The wait wasn't long. There was a strangled cough; then a series of coughs that cleared filled lungs followed by deep gasps for air. The dark-haired girl suddenly sat up, swayed alarmingly and nearly fell back before gaining her balance. Blue eyes opened and looked around in confusion for a moment before dropping to examine the no-longer existing wound in her chest.

"What? What? What's happening?" she stammered.

"Shhhhhh, the apparently slightly older woman said. It's alright."

"How can it be alright?" demanded the girl, her eyes wide with a mixture of fear and disbelief. "Aren't I dead?"

"What do you remember?" the woman asked, sidestepping the question for a moment.

"We came to the fortress," the girl said in a dazed tone of voice. "My father, he is, was, a freehold farmer holding land from Earl Thomas. When the Earl renounced his allegiance to the English King Henry and raised the flag of rebellion my father joined him and brought us to the castle for safety while he fought. In his youth my father had gone overseas and been a Captain in the French Army. When the Earl slipped away to raise reinforcements he was left as one of the Lieutenants of the garrison to hold the castle until the Earl returned to lift the siege."

"Somehow, I don't know how, someone opened one of the gates to the castle in the night and at dawn the English soldiers poured in. Seeing resistance was useless the garrison commander surrendered. They formed ranks and stacked their weapons. Then," the girl s eyes filled with tears, "then the soldiers attacked them. It was a slaughter. I saw my father go down almost immediately as they struck at the officers first. And then," and now the tears broke free, "they turned on the rest of us."

"But you fought back," the older woman prompted.

"Yes." Fire flashed in the blue eyes. "My parents never had a son, just myself and my younger sister. So my father taught me to use a bow." For an instant an impish grin crossed the tear stained features. "We used to slip into the Earl's woods and hunt deer." The smile slid away. "I saw a bow in the nearby stacked weapons and grabbed it and a handful of arrows. I shoved my mother and sister behind me and started shooting."

"And you did well."

"I saw two, maybe three fall. But," the girl looked down again at her breast. "I was sure... I KNOW one reached me with a spear."

"He did."

"Then how am I here?"

"It's a long story." The woman pondered. "Katniss Everdeen I am Deirdre O'Connor and in a very special way we are kinswomen."

"I don't recall my father saying anything about us being kin to the O Connor s."

"Not your family and my family. You and I. You see, we are both of a very small, special and above all secret part of the human race. We are both Immortals."

For several moments Katniss stared blankly before rallying. "That's not possible! Is it?"

"It is more than possible it is a reality."

"Wait!" Katniss looked around. "My sister and my mother."

"I'm sorry," was the simple reply as Deirdre looked over to where she had first found Katniss.

Tears filled the younger woman's eyes. "I... I knew somehow but I didn't want to accept it."

"It doesn't get easier," the red head replied softly. "Take a moment to say goodbye then we must go. The soldiers have left, people are starting to gather nearby and we need to be gone. I will explain what I can on the way."

"The way to where?"

"The new life you are starting."

In short order Katniss found herself riding side-by-side with the still mysterious woman after they had walked to a secluded grove where Deirdre had left two horses. Or rather, in a display the still made the Irish girl color in embarrassment when she remembered centuries later, Deirdre rode. Katniss fell off. A number of times. The older girl furiously bit her lip to keep from laughing at the fourth or fifth tumble. She finally couldn't hold it any longer when Katniss mumbled something about never having ridden before.

"I would have never guessed."

Fortunately Katniss was so emotionally drained from the events of the day that rather than be upset by the laughter she joined in. And eventually she would learn how to ride. Eventually. But for that trip and others to come she continued to hit the ground with a thud much too often and would come to find her rear end became so sore she didn't know if it would ever get better.

In spite of her style riding which mostly consisted of clinging desperately to the horse the pair covered many miles and reached an inn that Deirdre judged to be a safe distance away from the castle and the massacre. The food was filling and pretty much what Katniss would have made on her own. There was so much she wanted to know, so much she wanted to ask but exhaustion claimed her and she was asleep in minutes after they were shown to their room.

In the morning she did something she never would have imagined just days ago. She laid in bed until well after sunrise, overwhelmed by how her life had changed in just days. She shook her head. In so many ways she wanted to somehow return to the girl she had been but she knew that wasn't possible. No matter how incredible Deirdre's story might seem to be somehow she knew it was true.

Eventually she got up, got dressed and wandered down to the serving area where Deirdre was already waiting for her. After breaking their fast the older woman swept them out of the inn and back onto the road.

"You didn't even pay for anything," Katniss marveled.

"Actually while you slept last night I performed in the tap room."

"Performed?"

"Sang." The red-head lifted a case hung from her saddle. Opening it she showed a small, beautifully crafted harp.

"You're a bard?"

"It's one of the few ways a woman can make a living. Honestly at any rate."

"I thought all bards are male."

"They pretty much are. I was not formally trained but my father's bard taught me to play and sing and most of the ancient tales of our people. The latter are not popular in other places but here in our homeland they still bring smiles and tears, and I confess, offers of food, drink and places to stay."

"My father," Katniss' voice broke for a moment, "was a wonderful singer."

"I know."

"You do?"

"I met him in France. You were too young to remember but I visited your parents a couple of times when you were little, the last time not long before your sister was born."

"That's how you knew my name," the dazed girl said.

"Yes. And that was how I knew that you were a possible Immortal."

"You knew? How? And why 'possible'?"

"Immortals can sense when another of our kind is nearby. Exactly how varies but generally it s simply a feeling although often accompanied by a sound of some sort that is only in your head. A similar but still different feeling comes on you when a nearby person is a possible Immortal. The feelings don't tell you exactly where and certainly not who the other one is. It may be a friend or it may be a foe. As for 'possible' if you had been killed in one certain fashion you would not have risen again."

"And that is?"

"An Immortal can only be killed by decapitation. If that is done by another Immortal than the victor will take the loser's power."

"Power?"

Deirdre held up a hand. "I know you are bursting with questions. And answering some of them will only create more questions. I promise I will explain everything to you. There are things you need to know for your own safety. Not every Immortal you meet will be a friend. You will have to learn how to survive in our world. But for right now I want to keep putting distance between us and where I found you. In fact I want us out of Ireland as fast as possible. So concentrate on holding on."

The older Immortal was true to her word. She kept them going from daylight to dusk. She continued to "Sing for their supper" each night. Katniss was amazed at the range of the other girl's voice and her knowledge of the ballads and songs of Ireland. She didn't know how old the seemingly in-her-twenties woman really was but her eyes told a tale of having seen much more than a single lifetime could hold.

The pair had made for Dublin as quickly as they could although they took a slightly roundabout route to avoid the main roads. They reached it quickly though. Katniss was astounded at the crowds of people, the hustle and bustle of the city. Founded centuries before by the Viking invaders she knew it was the oldest city in Ireland and it awed her. She stuck very close to Deirdre.

"Wait until we get to Paris," the red-head told her.

"Is that where we're going?"

A nod confirmed it. And indeed the very next day they were on a small trading ship bound for France. That first night after they had retired to their cabin Deirdre sat her down.

"Now it's time.

(To be continued)  
(Deirdre O'Connor is an OC brought over from my purely "Highlander" fanfiction story


	3. Here we belong, fighting to survive

There Can Be Only One, Chapter 3

(Here we belong, fighting to survive)

(Apologies if this next bit bores anybody but I can't quite assume that everyone is familiar with all the ins and outs of the "Highlander" world. And besides Katniss needs to learn these things.)

(Calais, France

As it turned out the talk that Deirdre started to have with Katniss was delayed. In fact it was delayed until the ship reached France. It's hard to pay attention to even life-or-death issues when one spends most of her time hanging over the railing. A miserably seasick Katniss decided that being immortal wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

But she recovered quickly once her feet were back on solid ground. After an enormous meal that somewhat made up for days of near starvation she was eager to hear what Deirdre had to teach her. That evening they retired early to what Katniss was amazed to find was a luxurious suite of rooms. She looked around in awe, bursting to ask questions about everything in the world but managed to restrain herself. Barely.

Deirdre noticed the younger woman's eagerness and smiled. "Good," she nodded. "There will be times in your coming years that you will need to act immediately and decisively. Much more often than that there will be times you need to be patient. Now you need to listen. Ask your questions later."

She took a deep breath and thought for a moment and then started.

"You are immortal. Your body has stopped aging. No matter how many years go by you will always appear the age that you are now. You can become ill but your body will fight off any disease and none will be fatal. Wounds, other than decapitation will heal. If you are fatally injured you may appear dead but your body is only waiting for the opportunity to repair itself. However that repair process is not infinite. If your hand is cut off you won't grow a new one. Oh and while you can't starve to death or die of thirst going without food or drink will be as uncomfortable as it would be for anyone else. The same applies to extremes of heat and cold. So eat, drink and stay warm and the rest will take care of itself. Live your life for however long it happens to be.

"Now," The older Immortal continued, "That's enough about you personally. Now for some information on the new world that you have been thrust into. The world of the Immortals and the Game."

"The game?" Katniss asked. Deirdre shrugged. "That was how it was described to me by the Immortal who first found me after my first death and awakening. The term seems to be universally understood among us. Whoever coined it the term lays down the laws by which we live and how it will all end one day."

"How it will end?"

"There are many Immortals now. Some are good, some are not. Some will be friends; some will seek to take your head."

"Take my head!" exclaimed Katniss.

"Even as a fledging Immortal you have some power inside you. As you age that power grows stronger. The core of that power is of course whatever it is that makes us what we are. When one Immortal beheads another the winner receives the loser's power in what can be rather spectacular fashion in what is called 'The Quickening'. So watch and be careful because sooner or later someone will seek to add your power to theirs. When that happens you have only a few choices."

"Which are?"

"You can run away, especially if you know where there is holy ground nearby. No Immortal may harm another on holy ground."

"You mean consecrated like a church?"

"Yes but not limited to only Christian places. Any site that has been used as a worship places by any group over the centuries qualifies. I'm sure you know of some the old legendary places in Ireland that are reported to be the sites of the worship of the old gods, Lugh the Sun God, Crom Cruach, Mannanan Mac Lir and the others. Those places qualify. A Hebrew synagogue or an Islamic mosque. Even the land where such places used to be."

"What are the other choices?"

"There are two others. You can fight and win or fight and lose. I suggest the first one. That means you will have to learn to use a sword. An arrow, no matter how good a shot you are, will not kill an Immortal opponent." She paused for a moment. "On the other hand your skill will be useful in other ways. After all, you will have to have some way to make a living in the world and there are few options for a woman. We'll see. In the meantime when we reach Paris we'll visit a sword smith I know."

"So as long as I manage to avoid getting my head cut off one way or another I'll just go on forever?"

"Perhaps. But only if you survive the Gathering."

"The Gathering?" Somehow Katniss knew that the term was THE Gathering and not just some ordinary get-together.

"When there are only a few Immortals left those that remain will feel an irresistible call to a distant city, we know not which one or if it even exists today. There they will fight till only one remains. And that last one will have the power of all the Immortals who have ever lived."

"Wow."

"Yes."

Silence fell for a while until Katniss mustered her courage.

"Deirdre, one really important question."

"Yes?"

"Why are you helping me? Aren't you possibly creating someone who may be a rival one day?"

"Maybe. I don't think so but it has happened. But another Immortal found me and guided my first steps without regard for whether I was a danger to her or not. I can do no less for another. Besides, I liked you Father and Mother. They were good people and I take it on faith that their daughter is a good person as well. Just as someone took me on faith."

"Who was that?"

"Her name was Ceirdwyn. She's a very old Immortal, from about the time of Christ."

"And how old are you?"

"Not as old," Deirdre laughed at the look on Katniss's face. She relented but her face darkened in sadness. "It was in 1189. Assassins struck at my brother Conchobar. I died at the same time."

Katniss ran the names through her mind. Her eyes opened wide. "Wait. Deirdre O'Connor, sister to Conchobar who died, was murdered, in 1189. That means Conchobar Maenmaige, King of Connacht who was the son Ruaidr Ua Conchobair, also known as..."

"Roderick O'Connor," Deirdre said.

"... Ard R na h ireann. The last High King of Ireland and your Father as well," Katniss finished. She dropped to one knee and bowed her head.

"Enough," Deirdre said softly. She raised Katniss to her feet. "That Kingship is long gone, never to return. Over the years I have used many names. God willing you will do the same. I would not be surprised though Katniss Everdeen if you do not often return to your birth name. I do, even when that name is no longer in the language of my birth, of our birth."

"Now then, rest. For tomorrow we will begin your training. I know not how long we may have together. It could be months. It could be years. But sooner or later you will need to leave the nest and strike out on your own. When that day comes I want you to be as ready as you can be."

And bright and early the next morning they did indeed begin.

To her surprise Katniss found that Deirdre intended her to learn much more than just how to handle a sword. They did indeed begin with that and spent some time daily practicing. When they reached Paris that training became even more intense and varied.

"We need to discover just which style of sword and sword fighting best suits you. Most swords are too heavy for you, like the Broadsword and the Scottish Claymore. You need something lighter and faster."

"What do you use?"

"I've used different types over the years but right now I use Spanish 'espada ropera' or 'dress sword'. It's much lighter and more slender than most swords. However the Toledo steel it is made of makes it very strong. It's a one handed weapon which makes it faster than most of the heavier ones. If we need to travel to Spain to get you one we will."

As it turned out that wasn't needed. After experimenting with different types Katniss found she liked the 'Schweizers bel' or 'Swiss Saber'. Single edged and slightly curved it was still suitable for cut and thrust fighting. Hired instructors trained her with it until it became comfortable to her hand and she found that when she was without it she felt naked.

Sword play wasn't nearly all she learned. Deirdre insisted that she learn to read and write; English first and then after she learned to speak french that language as well. She learned Mathematics and how that could be used in arts like navigation. She learned the stars and natural history.

Katniss already knew some survival arts. She could hunt and trap game, clean it and cook he own food. She could sew well enough to patch clothing and improved on that. "You can never have too many trades," Deirdre explained.

One thing that rather surprised her was her mentor's encouragement to continue her archery.

"Perhaps the arquebus is the wave of the future. I don't know. I do know though that you can fire a dozen arrows in the time it takes to reload one of those things and you certainly can't hunt with one of those noisy, clumsy weapons. And you are good Katniss, as good as any archer I have ever seen."

One mutually admitted failure was Deirdre's failure to teach Katniss to play an insturment and sing. She simply couldn't do it, in spite of her nimble fingers that Deirdre thought could make her a harpist. And although Katniss had a nice voice she just couldn't seem to sing. Not good enough to make her way through the world on that skill. Deirdre wondered deep in her heart sometimes if that was because of the loss the young Immortal felt for her gifted Father. Regardless of the cause, a Bard or entertainer was NOT in Katniss's future.

During the years that Katniss spent with Deirdre she met several other Immortals. Some were introduced, some observed from afar, one caused Deirdre to spirit her young charge to the nearest Holy Ground, which happened to be Notre Dame, and one was warmly welcomed.

They had been out walking one pleasant fall afternoon. Deirdre's latest project had been teaching Katniss Irish Gaelic. She had learned enough that they were chatting away in it when the feeling swept over them of another Immortal nearby.

Armed women were not common but Paris has always prided itself on not being surprised by anything so no real attention had been paid to the swords that were discreetly strapped to each of the women's waist. They slowed and hands drifted to pommels as they scanned the area. A voice broke their concentration, a voice that was closer than they would have expected.

"Ah if it is not the dear, charming and enchanting Deirdre. I am overcome."

The pair turned to see a well-dressed man sweeping the ground in a deep bow with his plumed hat in one hand. Katniss saw a broad smile spread over her friend's face.

"Hugh Fitzcairn you rogue. I would have thought by now you would have been hung for a horse thief or finished off by a jealous husband or angry father."

"Never my dear. I don't waste time stealing horses and I have always known when it was time to take to my heels before such unfortunate meetings take place with husbands or fathers."

This was Katniss's introduction to the irrepressible English Immortal who would become one of her best friends. That he was already Deirdre's very close friend became obvious when the pair of them retired together for the night. He stayed with them a month, was gallantly flirtatious with Katniss yet never made any real attempt to seduce her; something Deirdre confided in her he was entirely too good at. But then he was sleeping nightly with her mentor. Katniss did enjoy his company immensely and filed away the idea that perhaps more could happen one day in the future between them. He WAS very handsome and he made her smile a great deal.

It was shortly after he left to travel on ("Not sure where to but time to go there," he had said) that Katniss woke one morning and new her own time had come. Her friend was singing in the shady back garden of their residence when she found her. Deirdre finished her song, laid her harp aside and looked steadily at Katniss.

"Deirdre, it's time for me to go."

"I know." The older Immortal smiled. "These have been lovely years but now you are ready. Go out into the world. Live each day. Learn about the world and yourself."

The two women hugged for a long time.

"Remember, this is not good bye. We have so much time ahead of us. I'm sure we'll meet again and again as the years flow by us."

Deirdre accompanied her friend to the stables. Katniss mounted her horse, her sparse baggage already secured to the saddle. Green eyes twinkled.

"I'm glad you have finally learned to ride."

Katniss laughed merrily, leaned from the saddle and kissed her friend. She thumped her heels on her horse's side and with her eyes shining in excitement rode out into the world.

(To be continued)

(Ceirdwyn, who is also the Scottish heroine Flora MacDonald is the central character in episode 3x17 "Take Back the Night". And of course Hugh Fitzcairn appears again and again throughout the series.)  



	4. In a world with the darkest powers

There Can be Only One, Chapter 4 by patricia51

(In a world with the darkest powers)

(Bavaria, Germany, 1626)

Clove Honor heard a whoop of excitement from off to her left, probably from Marvel. The tall Italian Immortal tended to get carried away during a hunt. She shrugged. They had already determined that the Immortal they were all four pursuing was female, young and inexperienced. Hardly worth all the effort. Not for the first time Clove wondered how in the world she had got caught up in all this.

(London, 1563)

The slight slender teenaged girl groaned. Her head was pounding and the taste in her mouth was indescribable. While struggling to open her eyes she took a deep breath and nearly vomited at the smell around her. Then she did get her eyes open and when she took in the unbelievable sight around her she did indeed lose control of her stomach.

Bodies. There were bodies all around her. Some seemed freshly dead while others were already in a state of decay. She struggled to her knees and looked up. It was some kind of pit her dazed mind decided. Then the memories came flooding back.

"Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!"

The plague had returned to London. Once again the carts rumbled through the streets to pick up the corpses and carry them away. Once again the various "preventatives" and "remedies" and "Cures" had been told and retold and once again all failed.

The saving grace was that the outbreak was not as bad as that told of in the old stories. It was mostly confined to the poorer sections of London. But that was cold comfort indeed to those who lived in the poorer areas, such as a family of itinerant jugglers and performers. Before her own fever reached the fatal level Clove Honor had already seen her parents and all four of her siblings succumb to the deadly illness. It had almost been a relief to close her eyes for what she knew would be the last time.

But somehow it wasn't. She examined herself. The pustules that never healed, the swellings that lancing brought no relief to were gone. So was her fever. Somehow she had survived the plague and was well.

Getting out of the pit would have been a problem indeed for anyone not as skill in acrobatics as she was. Get out she must for she could tell that daylight was fading and soon the authorities would be there to burn the bodies. A running start over a carpet made up of what she refused to admit into her mind, a flip and then the catching of a hanging rope doubtlessly used to lower corpses into the pit and she was out. Once back on the surface she had slipped through the lengthening shadows until she reached the rotted building the garret of which she had called home for the last six months.

Once there she found that he troubles were far from over. Three ragged individual, two men and a woman, were throwing the pitiful remnants of her family's belongings around. One was using a wicked looking dagger to rip open the seams of her mother's clothes.

"There has to be something hidden here SOMEWHERE," muttered the man with the dagger. Just then the other saw her.

"Well, well, look what we have here." a smile full of broken and rotted teeth filled his face. "Nice little piece of fluff."

"Get out of here! Leave my family's things alone." Clove demanded.

The trio laughed. "Spunky thing isn't she?" The second man moved between her and the door. "Bet we could get a nice price for her. Always a need for fresh ones for the gentlemen there is."

The first one chuckled and tucked his blade away. "Then she probably's been broken in already." He fumbled at his clothing. "No reason we can't have a little fun for ourselves first."

Clove had been in this type of situation before although never without her father or a brother near at hand. But she had been taught and besides she had just caught a glimpse of a certain black leather belt barely peeking out from under her parents' thrown over bed. Instead of being paralyzed she acted.

Two tightly tucked forward rolls swept her under the first man's outstretched arms. She snatched the belt free and her heart leaped as she saw it was the one she had hoped. Her father had been an accomplished knife thrower and had taught his children the art. Her right hand snapped sideways and the man by the door fell back, his hands pawing futiley at the hilt of the knife buried in his chest. Another toss and the slatternly woman fell.

"Bitch!" the first man roared. He yanked out his dagger and charged her. She rolled away again, this time sideways to avoid him. She tossed the belt up and grabbed yet another blade in mid-air. Throwing backwards and left handed from the floor made little difference. Because of the angle the knife took the man in the throat. He pulled it free in his rage and drowned almost immediately in his blood. He fell across Clove's legs, spasmed and died with his dagger dropping harmlessly to the splintered wooded floor.

For just a moment Clove let herself sag in relief. The she kicked the dead torso off her and hurriedly began to pack. There could be others at any time. Robbing the dead was nothing new in this part of the city and with the plague order had completely broke down again. She hastily gathered some of her clothing and some of her younger-by-a-year brother who was almost the same height and build as her. It was certainly safer to dress in pants right now. She pried up a board and retrieved the few coins her father had hidden there. The knife belt went around her, concealed by a loose tunic and the just used blades cleaned and returned to their places.

Quickly she searched the intruders' bodies. She grunted in satisfaction as her hands found a purse under the bigger man's clothing filled with copper and silver coins. The cheap necklace the other man was wearing proved to have a leather locket of some kind at the end tucked inside his shirt. It felt heavier than it should. Her fingers found an opening. To her amazement inside were two gold coins.

"I'd say you were holding out on your friends," she said to the body. "But don't worry. I won't tell on you."

Using a trick her father had taught her she fitted the door bar in one bracket while keeping the other end in the air with a block of wood. After closing the door she pulled a string tied around the block. It came loose and the bar dropped into place with a muffled thud. She tested the door and nodded in satisfaction. No one was likely to stumble on the scene by accident and when the smell roused an investigation she would be long gone.

(Bavaria, Germany 1626)

She still hadn't understood how it was that she was still alive much less apparently cured completely of the plague. It wasn't until she had made her way to Dover with some vague intention of leaving England behind that she would run into a wandering Danish sailor named Cato, who would explain not only the origin of the strange sensation she had just before meeting him but so much more about the both of them.

He had been discovered coughing seawater out of his lungs after a previous ship had sunk underneath him about ten years before. That Immortal, Kanwulf, who claimed to be old enough that he had once been a priest of Odin during the flourishing days of the Vikings, had taught him the rules. Cato admitted that Kanwulf had tutored him more to have someone to boast and show off to than anything else but he had learned. In fact he had learned enough to take to his heels when the Immortal Viking decided he didn't need Cato around anymore and decided he would make a splendid sacrifice to Odin that would culminate with cutting the young Dane's head off.

All this information tended to make Clove wary. But she needed to find out more about being an Immortal so she stuck around with Cato, keeping an eye out for the time that he would decide it was time to separate her from her head. When he made advances towards her she hesitated not at all in accepting them. He was handsome and she had urges that her fingers were not completely satisfying.

They had stayed together and if the relationship wasn't everything that she had dreamed of at one time it was comfortable. She knew that at any time it could end and end violently. However from the other Immortals they encountered it appeared that the day that "There could be only one" was not to be expected anytime soon. So they kept an eye on each other but also grew genuinely fond of each other, even after they met another couple like them.

Well, not exactly like them. They had been traveling through the rather tumultuous German states. Clove continued to perform, knife-throwing and acrobatics while Cato sometimes hired as a guard. French blonde-haired Glimmer de Grandon and Marvelo Ricardin were both Immortals who traveled together but they simply did so for ease and to follow the old adage that two could live as cheap as one. After all, Marvel pointed out with a sigh once they all had decided NOT to seek each others' head (at least for now) no one paid them for being Immortal. They definitely were not a couple. Marvel was too full of himself and Glimmer took one look at Cato and immediately went into pursuit.

Not that Cato needed much pursuing. That was alright with Clove. Something was missing between her and the towering Dane. Although she firmly kept a lid on the thoughts she had noticed that the Frenchwoman was indeed very attractive and occasionally she had dreams or daydreams the likes of which she had not had before. Often anyway.

So they traveled and occasionally they hunted and if Cato began sleeping with Glimmer it was fine as long as they didn't turn on her. They caught several young Immortals. Generally Cato killed for the group. Once he had magnanimously passed his sword to Glimmer when they chased down a female in her teens. Marvel occasionally left on his own but returned in short order each time. Perhaps he was as good as he claimed. Clove didn't care.

With the land torn by what would one day be known as the "Thirty Years War" much could be done by a small group as long as they managed to stay out of the way of this army or that one. And today they had been resting after mid-day meal when the sensation had swept over them.

They were cautious. An encounter with an Immortal Scotsman had ended with all four of them taking to their heels. But this time they saw only a slender dark-haired female who turned her horse at the sight of the four of them. The chase was on.

When the girl suddenly reined her horse off the main road and on to a faint trail Cato and Glimmer plunged after her. Marvel peeled off to the left. Clove spurred her horse past where the others had disappeared and the cut into the woods. She and Marvel would circle and drive their target back to the immediately pursuing pair.

As she circled Clove listened for breaking branches and other sounds of the chase. There weren't any. Then just as Marvel appeared from the other side there were shouts of fear and cries of pain that unmistakably came from Cato and Glimmer. Turning her horse she raced toward the sound with Marvel right behind her.

They burst into a clearing to find an amazing sight. Both Cato and Glimmer were down on the ground. Each had an arrow buried in them. Although obviously not fatal both of them were in considerable pain and somewhat immobilized. The dark-haired girl was just starting to dismount and draw a sword to finish them off.

With a yell Marvel swept by her. His cry of triumph cut off as with amazing speed the other Immortal snatched her bow and fired an arrow into him. He fell from his horse.

Clove grabbed a knife in each hand. A steady eye and the tip of an arrow were aimed at her. Both seemed to hesitate and for an instant they measured each other silently. The tableau was broken as Cato struggled to his feet. Realizing she had missed her chance the girl lowered her bow and spun her horse. For a long moment her eyes locked with Clove. The English girl shivered but not in fear. Something seemed to pass between them. Then heels thudded against ribs and the horse and rider were gone.

She dismounted to help the others. A cursing, fuming Cato looked after where their prey turned almost victor had disappeared.

"Who the HELL was that?"

Clove didn't know but something told her that whomever that girl was her destiny was somehow connected to hers. She would see her again she knew.

(To be continued)

(Kanwulf appears in episode 4X1 "Homeland")


	5. And here we are, We're the princes of th

There Can be Only One, Chapter 5 by patricia51

(And here we are, We're the princes of the universe)

(Vienna 1683)

"Here they come!" the Captain commanding this section of the walls alerted the defenders scattered along the parapet.

Katniss peeked through the embrasure nearest her. When he was right he was right. A flood of colorfully clad men poured across the open ground between the camp surrounding the city and the walls. Motionless bodies interspersed with a few feebly crawling ones showed the result of the last charge.

Around her the soldiers looked to their muskets. Not that Katniss had any objection to modern improvements but she still preferred her bow. True the heavy arquebus could fire a ball that would penetrate armor that her arrows would bounce off of. On the other hand if she aimed correctly, which she generally did, there was almost always a vulnerable place the armor didn't cover. Plus she could loose six aimed arrows or more in the time it took the men to fire and reload.

The besiegers ' cannons fired and the ones on the wall returned that fire. The attacking wave reached the ruins of the houses that had demolished to provide a clear field of fire. The Captain shouted a command. The men stood and a volley rang out. Instantly the half of the men who had fired knelt and began to reload. From long experience the officer knew when the first rank would be half-way finished and gave the command for the second half of the men to step up and fire.

None of that had to do with Katniss who stood between two musketeers, her arrows arching far into the oncoming horde. Her aim was deadly. A banner bearer fell, then a man with a brass trumpet that wound all around his body. Finally before the smoke blotted out the charge she picked off a portly man waving a ceremonial lash to encourage his troops. For good measure she fired three more arrows in rapid succession to take his staff out as well.

She lowered her bow. "Nice shooting" praised the captain.

Katniss smiled and thanked him even as her mind's voice reprimanded her.

"You just HAD to be a hero didn't you? You could have stayed peacefully and happily somewhere to the West. France, Spain, England even home to Ireland. You could have gone back to Paris and seen if Deirdre was there. But noooooooooo, you have to come here and fight the entire Ottoman Empire all by yourself."

She missed Deirdre. She couldn't believe that she had just missed her in Italy just some forty odd years ago. A smiled touched her lips. But she HAD caught up once more with Hugh Fitzcairn and he had proved to be just as delightful, in and out of bed, as she had imagined he would be. She had also met his best friend, the darkly handsome Scottish Highlander Duncan McLeod. Both of them knew how to treat a lady, even when the lady in question had been a barefoot Irish peasant girl once.

There was something deep and dangerous about Duncan that was absent in Fitz, lovely man that he was. She had no fear of him but she sensed a power in Duncan and for the first time she thought she might have met the one who was destined to win the Prize. Not that it really mattered she supposed. After all it wasn't very likely that she would be there at the Gathering. She had met quite enough Immortals, including some that had done their best to take her head, whose power already far exceeded hers.

She touched the rapier that hung at her side now. It too was a legacy from Italy, Padua in fact where she had learned its use from the famed sword master Francesco Ferdinando Alfieri. She had thought that she might have to disguise herself as best as she could as a male but found that he didn't care about her gender, only if she had the talent to use a sword. She worked hard to justify his accepting her as one of his trainees. She needed it.

It had only been a few months then since she had fought her first Immortal duel with a wandering adventurer from she knew not where. She really should have lost; she was no match for him and spent the entire fight on the defensive and backing up. But he had slipped and she had lashed out. It wasn't until the Quickening started that she realized her stroke had beheaded him.

She had nothing to compare it against then but the experience had seemed overwhelming. Since she had left Padua she had engaged in several more duels and won them. Each time the power coming to her had seemed stronger. But it wasn't something she would go looking for. So far all of her fights had been pressed on her. She would have been content to travel, to learn, to experience life as Deirdre had told her to do.

So why wasn't she back in Italy, drinking wine and eating grapes and laying in the sun instead of being in this besieged city? Part of it was that the longer she lived the more she itched to see the world. As a girl in Ireland she had listened to her Father's stories of his adventures on the Continent and dreamed about them. She had listened to tales of the East, of the strange and wonderful world of India, China and beyond. But war raged across her path, from Poland all the way down through the Balkans. So she followed her Father's footsteps again and became a soldier.

She had looked around. She remembered Duncan telling her he had been a soldier in several wars but only if he felt the cause was just for the side he elected to fight for. SO she did the same thing.

A century or so ago the rising tide of the Ottoman Empire had carried it to the walls of this city. It had broken against the walls of Vienna but it was surging back again. Katniss joined the garrison defending the city.

There weren't many women warriors and Katniss found she had to argue her way up the chain of command until she met with the garrison commander the Graf von Starhemberg. Fortunately she had learned self-possession and confidence even beyond what Deirdre had taught her. Friends did that. And enemies. At any rate she had convinced him she was able to hold her own when she took on three soldiers of the garrison one by one and disarmed them all in swordplay. After having also demonstrated her ability to move silently through the forest especially at night he made her a scout on his staff reporting to his chief advisors or in an emergency directly to him. He also assigned her comfortable quarters and ordered a generous allowance be paid to her.

For weeks as the Ottoman Army had advanced she had hidden, often in plain sight, to watch and take notes. For a week she had barely stirred from the blind she had built in a tiny copse of trees on a hilltop. She had watched the entire army pass. The notes she had committed to paper and memory allowed her to give the Graf a near complete picture of the invaders' strengths, his organization, guns, supplies and much more.

More than once she had felt the stirrings that indicated another Immortal was somewhere around. It had always been faint though. Of course with this many people in the attacking army, the defenders in Vienna and the various rescue forces that were arriving from Poland as well as the Holy Roman Empire it would have been surprising had there not been someone else around. So she didn't worry about it. Not many places in Vienna to go for a private duel that would end in the spectacular show of a Quickening.

Since the siege had begun she had continued to slip out from the walls each night. It wasn't like when Suleiman the Magnificent had surrounded these walls. Actually the defenders had more cannon than the attackers and the siege was nowhere near as close as that one had been. Still there had been several tunneling attempts and Katniss had found and investigated a couple of them. Armed with the readings she had taken the defenders had dug themselves and intercepted those mining attempts well away from the walls.

Well she had done enough for the day. She decided to head off to her quarters and the nearly eccentric custom she had of taking a bath. The tradition had ling lingered in Europe that bathing could be unhealthy and it was only necessary to wash the face, hands and neck that would be seen. But widely traveled Immortals like Deirdre and Fitzcairn had changed her mind. Smile crossed her lips. In Fitz's case the convincing had not only provided cleansing but a great deal of fun.

Just then the sensation smacked her. Whoever it was they were much closer now. She peered over the railing of the stone walkway that led to her quarters. Damn. There they were AGAIN. Was she never to be rid of that quartet?

(Earlier the same day)

Thunk.

Thunk.

Thunk.

Clove moodily wrenched the knife from the scarred table top. Instead of burying the tip once more with a snap of her wrist she held it up and studied it, watching the light from the lamps scattered around the ale shop flash from the steel. She shifted her gaze to Cato, Glimmer and Marvel. She had just about had enough of this whole unbalanced quartet that she had been a member of for over a hundred years. At first it had been fun, well, more fun than being an often starving teen acrobat and thief.

There had been travel to countries that she had barely dreamed of ever seeing. Although clothes had never been of much interest to her there had been times when they were flush with money and she had enjoyed fancy dress and expensive foods and good wines. Of course those periods had generally come when they had made a good haul from stealing something valuable. True Cato and to a lesser extant Marvel were capable of earning wages as mercenary swordsmen and also as bodyguards; preferring the latter role.

She had outlived everyone she had ever known back in England and so what? What did she have to show for it? What was troubling was that she didn't even know what she wanted, just that there had to be some purpose, some reason, something fulfilling that she certainly wasn't finding in her present circumstances. If this was all there was, just going around and around with the same companions in pretty much the same situations than what was the point to being an Immortal?

Maybe it was time for a change. But what kind of change? Somewhere other than here and with someone other than this group. Maybe she would be better off alone; although that was not a lifestyle she had experienced much.

She leaned back in her chair, absently twirling the knife in her fingers. She thought back. THAT was the real problem. Very little stood out in her memories of the last century. Oh there were a few things; her first duel and Quickening, the sun coming up over the Alps and a few other sights and scenes that she treasured.

She grinned to herself. There were a couple memories she certainly wouldn't share with the others. The time that Connor McLeod had drove them all before him like leaves in the wind. The time that dark-haired Immortal had skewered the other three with arrows. Not to mention the second time they had seen her and once more been surprised by her. But more than those situations the memory of her face and the deep pools that were the other girl's eyes seemed to pull Clove in.

So lost was she in thought that Cato had to kick the chair her feet were resting on to get her attention.

"Come on," he instructed her. "Let's go."

Tucking away her knife she got up and went out the door. They walked almost aimlessly around, working their way back towards the lodging they shared. Often they stood aside as detachments of soldiers passed. The deep roar from the southern walls had faded but this still was a city fighting for its life. Not that it was any of their concern she supposed although she definitely planned to stay out of the way of the invaders should they breach the walls. She had no desire to be impaled, especially with the possibility of returning to life in exactly the same position.

They were passing the citadel when the sensation swept over them. Out of habit they stood in a loose circle, each facing a different direction. After a few moments Clove looked at the others. Each shook their head or shrugged. So where was the other Immortal?

"Up here."

Four heads tipped back. Clove nearly giggled, something she NEVER did, as she realized what they had done in unison. Then her breath caught as she saw the slender figure with the long dark-haired braid and the piercing eyes that she had just been day-dreaming about.

"Wasn't the last time enough for you?"

(To be continued)


	6. Here we belong Fighting for survival

There Can be Only One, Chapter 6 by patricia51

(Here we belong. Fighting for survival)

(France 1642)

"Innkeeper," Kyra rapped on the bar with one hand as she surveyed the room. "Wine. Over there," she pointed to a vacant table.

Katniss swept her broad hat from her head, the feathers dancing in the air from the still open door. She followed her friend to the chair and collapsed into one of the chairs. She stretched her booted feet in front of her.

The blonde Immortal woman beside her laughed. "Daring someone to make you move out of the way are you? You are becoming as bold and daring as any other blade in Her Majesty's Service."

A smile flickered over Katniss's face. She picked up the goblet the innkeeper had placed before her and clicked it against the one Kyra had raised.

"Her Majesty's Service!"

The pair drank. Kyra had already tossed a few silver coins on the table so the innkeeper made haste to refill their drinks. Katniss cradled the goblet now, the lace cuffs of her doublet brushing the pewter. She sipped and watched her friend.

On a whim Katniss had left Italy when she believed she had learned what she needed from the master sword smith she had trained with. She was aware that she hardly knew everything concerning the sword but some things cannot be learned in the salle d'armes. So she had headed for Paris. Maybe Deirdre was home.

She wasn't but her city house still was and still belonged to her. And instructions had been left that Katniss Everdeen was always to be welcomed. The advocate who was responsible for this piece of Deirdre's property at least had the place aired out, cleaned and staffed in a week. He admitted that he was generously paid for periods when he needed to do nothing at all except insure the property was safe and he had no intention of losing his sinecure by bad performance. So she moved in.

She spent weeks and weeks getting reacquainted with Paris and the surrounding areas. Much had changed; much had remained the same. It seemed baffling. But Deirdre had told her that would happen.

"The years go by swiftly and yet slowly. Swiftly because the people we know come into our lives and go and it seems so fast. Slowly because we don't change. Sometimes you will think about someone you knew, even loved and then realize that they are most likely long dead. But don't let that keep you from opening your heart."

So far she had found no one to open her heart to. She had made friends; she had had lovers, Immortals as well as mortal. But no one had stirred the innermost recesses of her heart. Nothing like she knew had existed between her Mother and Father. Still, she had plenty of time.

It was several months after her return that she was walking the streets and felt the now familiar sensations that warned her that another Immortal was nearby. Her hand resting on the pommel of her rapier she scanned the crowded street, looking to see who else might be searching.

And there she was. A blonde woman who looked to be around thirty perhaps. Her pose could be almost a mirror of Katniss's; wary but confident with her body ready to move quickly if needed and her hand comfortable on the hilt of her own sword. Not that she looked any more likely than Katniss to start something in the middle of a busy street.

Katniss lifted an eyebrow in question. The blonde shrugged, and then smiled. A smile tugged up the corner of Katniss's mouth in reply. The spark of liking between the two women was unmistakable. They met in the center of the street.

"Katniss Everdeen, once of Ireland."

"Kyra Bonacieux, once of Paris and always of Paris although I have soldiered throughout most of Europe."

Katniss raised an eyebrow in appreciation, a movement she had learned from Hugh Fitzcairn. "Impressive. Although not quite as ring as say..."

"Duncan McLeod of the Clan McLeod?" finished Kyra with a twinkle in her eyes.

Both women laughed. "I see you have met Duncan yourself," Katniss remarked.

"Just once," admitted Kyra, "a couple of years ago. I think he may have mentioned you. Are you the bard?"

"Sadly no," Katniss shook her head. "That would be my friend and mentor Deirdre O'Connor. Duncan did mention he had met her some few years ago in Italy, which is where I also met him. In fact I am staying at her city house, although I keep missing Deirdre, sometimes by as little as two years."

"Well, sooner or later we catch up to our friends." Kyra looked pensive. "If something doesn't happen to them." She shook her head as if the banish sad memories. "I'd say this occasion calls for a drink."

It did and it wasn't the only occasion that the pair visited taverns around Paris and through the rest of France. Not that Kyra or Katniss either was any kind of what would one day be known as a "party animal". Besides being places to get a drink the ubiquitous taverns also were sources of food, song and most important of all, information. For Kyra was on a mission and a continuous one at that. She was a special member of the guard that protected the Queen of France, Anne of Austria who was locked in a fierce and sometimes deadly duel with Cardinal Richelieu, the chief advisor to her generally estranged husband Louis XIII.

The situation had become very tense just a few years previously when France had gone to war with Spain and Anne's brother Philip IV. Anne's sympathies with her homeland were well known. That and her rumored liaison with the Protestant English Duke of Buckingham aggravated the feud between her and the Cardinal. Of course those battles were mostly fought by proxy, specifically between the Queen's agents and guards and those of Richelieu.

Katniss learned that Kyra was a follower of causes she believed to be right and she had found in Anne a woman worth following. No wonder she had connected with Duncan, albeit it had been only for a single night. Both Immortals were passionate for their beliefs and Katniss found herself following their example. She and Kyra became partners, sometimes together but quite often they shadowed each other, watching the crowd around the other and being prepared to step in and assist if needed.

The Irish Immortal admitted that her ability with the sword was making marked improvements as it seemed as though Kyra was determined to carry the fight single handedly to the Cardinal's lackeys. Not only were there duels and fights in the fields of France and in the dark alleyways of Paris were Katniss defended herself but as much as possible she tried to follow the other's lead and avoid killing when she could. Or when she thought she should as the pair came across some very nasty characters whose mortality did not excuse their actions. Katniss saw no problem in dispatching them.

Then in the space of less than a year everything changed. The Cardinal died followed shortly by the King. Anne assumed the Regency for her four year old son who had been crowned as Louis XIV. To everyone's amazement she also selected Richelieu's successor Cardinal Mazarin as her chief advisor, a role he was to fulfill well and faithfully. The war with Span dragged on but that was not the major concern for Kyra and Katniss. There was the struggle between the monarchy and the great nobles that the pair supported Queen, King and Cardinal and kept them busy but without the cut and thrust lightning fast intrigues they had experienced before.

Perhaps that was for the best. For Katniss was rested and ready for action the day she was to meet Kyra on the outskirts of the city. As she approached she felt the now familiar presence of another Immortal but the she slowed. It was much stronger than usual. Then her ears caught the skirl of blades clashing. Drawing her own sword she started to the sound and then paused. Over the years she had learned some caution to restrain her Irish tendency to fling herself headlong into the fray. So she crept closer carefully.

(Clove)

This entire situation made Clove uneasy. A devote of the attitude of "Never give a sucker an even break" long before P.T. Barnum was to make the saying popular she was wondering just exactly who the sucker was here. And no matter how much Cato and Marvel said that they had faith in the arrangements of the new old Immortal they had met she STILL tended to think the suckers involved in this were her group.

The uneasy feeling had been with her since they had been sitting in a rather disreputable ale-house trying to determine if they had enough money for another round and dinner as well. They had wandered up from Spain, well moved to France on jump ahead of the Inquisition after Cato had too blatantly recovered from what should have been a fatal wound. As they talked about their lack of prospects all four of them had stiffened and looked first at each other and then all around as the nearness of another Immortal touched them.

They didn't look long. A darkly handsome man simply walked up, pulled over a chair and sat down. He looked amused rather than alarmed at the sight of the foursome reaching for sword handles, with the excerption of Clove herself who slipped a knife from her boot top into her hand, reasoning that at this range it would be handier.

"No need for that," the man waved a hand dismissively. "I'm not here to do you harm but rather to offer you an opportunity."

After an exchange of glances Cato looked at the man, shrugged and said "We're listening."

That was the group's introduction to Xavier St. Cloud. Because the other three seemed to whole-heartedly follow him Clove tried to give the appearance of her acceptance of him as their leader as well. But she didn't trust him. It didn't matter that he had lots of money and they were all soon living better than they had in many years. His talk, his actions, his compliments reminded her of her father suckering a group of yokels in to something that was going to leave them penniless and make the Honor Clan head for the hills after the pigeons discovered they had been had. And more than once she had caught the genuine look in his eyes; the look that said he was a wolf in a world of sheep and that those sheep included them.

It came to a head when he gathered them together one afternoon to tell them he needed their help. Now this really was sounding like one of her parents' scams. There was an Immortal after him that he could not handle. He asked if Cato, or Marvel and the long slow wink he gave wasn't even needed to underscore his unspoken suggestion they tackle this Immortal together, could meet and defeat her for him and how grateful he would be. He knew, and here he gave another wink, that two on one was against the rules of The Game but after all if no one knew than there was no harm.

That settled it. Clove knew from her father's instructions that nothing brought the suckers in faster than the hint or the knowledge that what was going to make them a lot of coin was illegal or immoral. She remembered her father's other words. "Clove, if something appears too good to be true, it usually is."

Still, she followed along with Glimmer as the Cato and Marvel suddenly surprised and attacked a lovely blonde Immortal woman. And it was as she had suspected. The woman was a match for both the guys. He sword tip and edge threatened each in turn so quickly that both of them were backing up shortly, and quite rapidly too. That was when she saw the pea in the shell game appear. From an overgrown arch along one wall of the cul-de-sac where they had supposedly "trapped" the woman she saw St. Cloud appear behind the woman, his sword in hand.

She opened her mouth to yell. Who she was going to warn she wasn't sure. The blonde? Cato and Marvel that they had been set up, that St. Cloud was going to be the recipient of the Quickening? But before she could another figure sprang out from the back of the alley. Sword in hand it charged St. Cloud, who was suddenly fighting for his life instead of reaping the reward of his set-up. Now Clove gasped for St. Cloud's sword swept the second person's plumed hat away even as he backed up from a thrust that nearly skewered him. It revealed the rescuing Immortal was another woman. More than that, she was the same dark haired woman that the foursome had thought they had "cornered" back in Germany. Her face set in grim determination she forced St. Cloud to one side, away from the back of the blonde.

Realizing that his trap had misfired the dark Immortal suddenly sprang for the hidden place he had come from, slipped through the concealing vines and disappeared. The second woman's sword cut through the vines but missed him. Then she ran to join her partner. Neither Cato nor Marvel was a coward of any sort but both were disheartened by the knowledge that they had been used. They fell back and the pair in front of them let them. They turned and were gone with Glimmer between them. Clove hesitated for a moment. Her eyes met the cool blue ones of the raven-haired woman. As had happened in Germany something seemed to pass between them. Clove half-bowed and backed out of sight.

"Third time will be the charm," she said aloud to herself and knew it was true although how she knew it she could have never explained. Nor was she sure what "the charm" would be. But she wanted to find out.

(To be continued)

(Kyra appears in episode 6X5 "Patient Number 7" including a flashback to 1640's France and her first meeting with Duncan. Her last name is not given so I made one up. Xavier St. Cloud first appears in episode 1X15 "For Tomorrow We Die" and then in four other episodes.)


	7. We've come to be the rulers of your worl

There Can be Only One, Chapter 7

(We've come to be the rulers of your world)

(Vienna 1683)

"Wasn't the last time enough for you?" Four startled faces looked up at Katniss and the expressions nearly made her laugh. But she didn't. No point in unnecessarily making them mad. Perhaps it would be useful sometime to make them mad, because angry people lose their judgment and sometimes their heads. Four to one is never odds to take lightly and she didn't have Kyra by her side now.

Since nothing was going to happen at this particular moment since she was not only inside the secure and guarded walls of the central citadel but also some thirty feet above the fuming foursome she let her mind wander. She wondered how Kyra was doing.

(France 1662)

The pair of them had remained in the Queen's service for over twenty more years. Things had been much quieter after the passing of the King and Cardinal Richelieu but it still hadn't been boring. During the Queen's long regency for her young son and several years after Louis XIV officially took the throne there had been many plots and one serious revolt among the nobility. When the Queen finally decided to retire to a convent, where she would die a few years later the country was calm though, even the war with Spain having been brought to an end.

It was then that Kyra had surprised her by announcing that she was getting married. To a mortal. To a mortal who now knew of the existence of Immortals.

Deirdre had mentioned this happened. Fitzcairn boasted that he had successfully avoided any attempt to "tie him down". Duncan had been a little more circumspect but admitted he was well aware of the practice. His cousin and mentor Connor McLeod had enjoyed a long and happy marriage to a mortal but had admitted to being devastated by her death from old age while he lived on.

"It just seems so, so," Katniss groped for the words.

"So futile?"

"Yes."

"It may seem like it but consider this. We're Immortals but there is no guarantee that either of us will live to see tomorrow. We might. We might see centuries. But a sword stroke could end either of us at any time. So Katniss my dear friend, take love when you can find it. I have been here before. If I outlive him it will hurt but I will always have the memories of our time together. The only way to insulate oneself from all sadness is to never allow any one in to your heart. Don't do that. It's an empty existence."

When Katniss had met him she had been force to admit that her friend's about-to-be husband was indeed quite a catch. Handsome, charming and with a smile that lit up a room and beyond he was as obviously smitten with Kyra as she was with him. He was gallantly courteous to his lover's friend, showering her with compliments but never steeping over the line or showing that his real attention was focused anywhere but on Kyra.

It turned out that they were leaving Paris. They had not decided on a destination except it would be someplace warm and preferably on the ocean.

"It's time for you to move on too Katniss," Kyra reminded her. "It's been too long really. Had we been a pair of Ladies-in-Waiting or even uniformed guards far too many people would know us. This is the time though. The rest of the Queen's attendants have moved away with her and frankly she no longer needs our services. So slip away."

Kyra was right of course. The two women had embraced.

"Until we meet again." Her eyes strayed to the man next to Kyra. "Be good to her."

"Never fear Cherie," he promised.

The pair left in a carriage immediately after the wedding ceremony. Two days later Katniss mounted her horse and rode east having returned control of the estate to the successor to the original advocate handling Deirdre's house and monies. She left a letter behind for her mentor, telling her of her adventures so far.

(Vienna 1683)

Cato was steaming. Marvel was furious. Glimmer was embarrassed. And Clove? The English Immortal found that the hardest thing she had to do was to keep from laughing. The twinkle in the dark-haired girl's eyes was visible to her all the way down here. The muttered threats and vows of revenge the rest of her group were indulging even seemed even more ridiculous to her. What were they going to do? Climb the citadel's walls? Storm the gate?

No, they ended up doing pretty much exactly what Clove expected. They grumbled, got even angrier and then stalked off, no doubt to find a tavern where they would sit and drink and brood about avenging the slight. Clove was even pretty sure which dive they would head to. So when the other three stalked off she remained, calmly looking up at the other Immortal. Calmly on the outside anyway; on the inside something was quivering that she could not explain or understand. Then her green eyes connected with the blue ones looking down and the quivering stopped.

Clove found herself still, very still as she lost herself in those eyes. They seemed like pools she could submerge herself in and never need to come back up.

"The third time will be the charm," she remembered thinking. But what kind of charm? Whatever is was she saw the same confusion mingled with something that called to her in the eyes above her. What kind of call? Was it simply that she saw someone who would make a better friend, a truer friend, than the ones she had associated with for so long? Or was there something deeper? That was silly. Wasn't it?

How long the two female Immortals looked at each other neither could tell later. Finally the archer girl shook herself, bringing Clove to her senses as well.

"Meet me at the Eastern postern gate at dusk." The figure on the wall turned and disappeared.

Clove made her way to the tavern she was sure where the others would have gone. She was right. The trio was sitting around a scarred table, the guys nursing jacks of ale while Glimmer sipped on what must have been really foul wine judging by the looks of disgust she often shot at her glass.

"Where were you?" grumbled Cato.

Clove started to make up some story of following a possible mark but then realized that none of the three was paying the slightest bit of attention to her. Instead they were busy making grandiose plans of revenge against the other Immortal as well as wild ideas for enriching themselves in the process.

As they debated Clove watched, listened and thought. Grandiose schemes were all those ideas were ever going to be. She had drifted aimlessly with them for a century now and it was time to get out. Muttering some excuse she slipped away from the table. She ducked behind a pillar and slipped back to listen.

"How much longer are you going to let Clove travel with us?" asked Glimmer, laying a hand on Cato's arm.

"Not much longer. She's been helpful but I think she's outlived her usefulness. Besides, she's starting to get moody and she might try to leave us. Better to take her head now while she's close at hand." The idea must have made the hulking Danish Immortal happy for he smiled and ordered another round.

"Just in time," Clove thought. She darted out of the dive and hastened to where the foursome had been lodging. She gathered her things, surveying the room as she did. Her nose wrinkled. This place was nearly as squalid as the last place she had lived with her family. What was the point of being Immortal if this was all there was? Maybe with this new, well, hopefully friend but companion anyway, things would be different. Maybe so.

Only a tiny sliver of the sun still showed when Clove arrived at the designated gate. Massive, tightly barred and heavily guarded theere was a small gate set into the wall that exited on to a narrow pathway that curled around to the main road. It was set so that siege equipment such as rams could not be brought to bear on it. The dark-haired woman stood by it along with several men wearing chased back and breast armor. They were studying a scroll. The woman looked up.

"Ah there you are. Gentlemen this is an old acquaintance of mine who has arrived to assist with the defense of Vienna as well as to help to help me scout the enemy positions."

"An honor Madame." The grizzled officer in plain armor bowed slightly to her. "Any friend of Katniss Everdeen is welcome." He gestured to one of the others. "Please ensure that..." he paused for a moment with a lifted eyebrow.

"Clove Honor my lord," she replied, bowing deeper in return.

"That Clove Honor is enrolled on the pay list as a scout with commensurate remuneration." He went on briskly "now Katniss I want you to look in particular for the following units and for any shifting around of the field guns from your last foray."

A few minutes were spent arranging details including their safe return through the pickets and other defensive lines. The older man, whom Clove recognized now as having been pointed out to her before as the garrison commander, directed yet another officer to take Clove's few things to Katniss's rooms.

"Rooms?" Clove thought. "As in more than one?" She and her now former friends, acquaintances rather, had all huddled together in one which by the way made things damn uncomfortable when Cato and Glimmer were feeling amorous. And the one time they had invited Clove to join them had not been any kind of compensation at all. Thank God she was getting out of that and with a new start.

"I will expect you to report as soon as you return," the commander told Katniss.

"We should be back by daylight or shortly after My Lord Graf," was the reply. With that the postern gate was cracked open and Clove followed the dark-haired girl out into the enfolding darkness. Clove's heart beat faster than it had in decades as she entered into a new journey that promised adventure and even real friendship.

And who knew what else lay in wait? The third time was definitely the charm. How much she wouldn t learn for some time.

(To be continued)  



	8. I am immortal

There be Only One, Chapter 8 by patricia51

(I am immortal)

(China, 1690)

"Well, there it is. Peking," Katniss said with satisfaction as she reined her horse in on a rise over looking the sprawling city.

"About time," Clove replied beside her. "It seems like we've been riding for years."

Katniss laughed. "That makes sense. After all we HAVE been riding for years. Off and on anyway."

"The next time you make a suggestion as to a destination I think I'm going to ask you to be a little more specific than "Let's go east," the lithe English Immortal teased her friend.

"Okay, so I was speaking in general. But 'East' sounded like a good idea although I suppose I was thinking more about India rather than here," Katniss admitted. "But it still was a good idea. We both have traveled and lived in Western Europe, we agreed to avoid any confrontation with your former traveling companions at least for now and finally with the defeat of the Ottomans the way was safer than it has been in a long time."

"The Defeat of the Ottomans," mused Clove. That seemed almost harmless to say it like that. Those words didn't cover the final result of the biggest battle she had ever seen; the bodies, the blood, the half dead calling for water in a dozen different languages and the circling birds of prey that gorged themselves on the bodies.

She had to admit it though, except for the aftermath the whole experience had been amazing. She had found it exhilarating when she and Katniss slipped through the lines of the defenders and then into the camps of the besiegers. They went unarmed except Katniss carried a wicked looking knife with a saw back edge and she of course wore her belt of knives.

"But that's only if we get caught," her friend reminded her again and again. "If we do things right no one will ever know that we were even there."

At first Clove was astounded at how silently Katniss could move through the night. She was like a ghost, making no noise as she flitted from cover to cover, never exposing herself to view. Even more astounding was the Irish girl's ability to hide in plain sight. More than once the vantage point they used for observation was in the middle of an open field where Clove would have sworn they could not avoid being seen for more than a minute.

"It s all a matter of blending in," Katniss told her as she showed how to disappear where there seemed to be no cover at all. "Become part of the landscape. And above all don't move. Movement catches the eye. If you lay still you can avoid being spotted when you are all but lying out in the open."

Katniss would confess later on that her skill in moving silently and hiding in plain sight came from learning to hunt at an early age. "And by 'hunt' I mean poaching deer," Katniss admitted. It was also then that she learned to be such an incredible archer. "You only got one shot usually; it needed to count so I practiced a LOT."

Clove learned. And she was very pleased at how much Katniss was impressed by her talents as an acrobat, juggler and knife thrower. "Wait till you meet Deidre. She learned tumbling and acrobatics from her father's jesters. The two of you will really get along." It was good to bring something to the table; to be a partner with her new ally and not just someone to tag along. Whatever that charm the third time had been it made her determined to be all she could be to her new friend.

They had slipped in and out of the city for days, each time bringing back information for the garrison commander. Sometimes he requested they look for specific things, sometimes they decided on their own where they would go. The detailed requests became more and more a regular occurrence as the summer drew to a close.

(Vienna 1683)

They were on a hill top one morning having failed to return when the cordon closing the city off had tightened. Actually they were slightly down the hill from the top, laying comfortably together in a tiny clump of weeds. From their vantage point they could see the entire battlefield and had known as soon as the sun came up that something major was about to happen.

Distant trumpets had sounded. Long lines of unfamiliar soldiers appeared, filing through the mountain passes.

"The relief army!" Katniss whispered to Clove.

The English girl's knowledge and interest of the world around her had broadened by leaps and bounds since she had partnered with Katniss. She knew that a joint force from the Holy Roman Emperor and the Holy League made up of Poland and Lithuanian had been marching to the relief of the city. They had arrived.

The girls watched as the formations clashed. They both noted that although the Ottomans attempted to launch a spoiling attack on the arriving armies a large portion of the troops including many of the elite Janissary units attacked the city. What they were not to learn until after the battle was that the attackers had expected a huge subterranean mine to explode, blowing a hole in the city walls. However a counter-mine had been dug to it by the defenders and the fuse put out before exploding.

Horses dashed back and forth, twice nearly trampling the two scouts. They burrowed a bit deeper. At some time during one of those near misses, without even thinking about it, Katniss and Clove had reached for each others' hand. They squeezed while they held their breath but continued to hold hands even after the riders were safely away.

It felt nice, Clove thought. Warm. Comfortable. Safe. Well, maybe not safe exactly because there was something in the pit of her stomach that made her shiver a bit. But maybe it was just fear. After all they WERE surrounded by a huge enemy army. Maybe not.

They stayed there throughout the long bloody day. As afternoon slid into evening they had their closest call when Jan III Sobieski, King of Poland and over all commander of the allied relief army finally had commenced his all out attack. He led four formations of heavy cavalry, three Polish and one Imperial, in what would be the largest cavalry charge in history. They swept over any opposition, smashing the besieging army and incidentally almost trampling Katniss and Clove who had already narrowly been missed by fugitives from the stampeding Ottomans.

Silence and stealth no longer being a concern Katniss had cried out "Stay down!" to Clove and the grip of their hands had tightened till they turned white. "All we need is one wild sword stroke and it would be all over. No matter how much getting ridden over might hurt we'll heal."

As it turned out their luck held. The battle surged past them and they were able to make their way back towards the city in a round about route that brought them to a northern gate, already open to allow reinforcements in to the city. The church bells had begun to peal, sounding the victory as they reached the area in front of the citadel. An aide to the Graf recognized them and escorted them to him among the wild celebration.

Katniss couldn't think of a thing to say at first. Twice she opened her mouth and nothing came out. The Graf gestured and a flagon of wine cut with water was handed to her. She drank and passed it to Clove.

"They've broken," she finally simply said.

Refraining from a justified "I know" the Graf nodded and gripped each girl by the shoulder. "Go to bed," he instructed. "Rest. The celebration will go on for days. You need not fear you will miss it. And well done you both."

As they trudged towards what was once Katniss's quarters and now theirs Clove thought of how warm the Graf's comments had made her. No one had ever said anything like that to her before. Once she would have dismissed the words as unimportant but now she treasured them. Nearly as much as she was already beginning to treasure the companion beside her.

When they reached their quarters Katniss clapped her hands in glee. "Hot water! Sweet gentle Jesus bless that man."

Clove had yet to really come to terms with Katniss's religious faith. Not surprising the Irish Immortal had been raised Catholic and in spite of what had happened to her over the century or so she clung to that faith. It probably had been strengthened by her mentor as Katniss had mentioned Deirdre was Catholic as well. It would have been nice to have HAD a mentor. By no stretch of the imagination could Cato be thought of in that light. And she had grown up without religion and hadn't really had any contact with it since her being awakened as an Immortal.

Still, maybe there was something to it all. After all, someone or something had decreed that Holy Ground of any kind was sacred and duels could not take place there. She had attended services with Katniss a couple of times. Much of it was very confusing but some was quite lovely.

Speaking of lovely, the scent of the hot bath was drawing her right in. That was another thing she had been unsure about but in this case it hadn't taken much for Katniss to convince her what a good idea this was.

"Who goes first tonight?"

"I suspect that whoever is second is going to fall asleep before it's her turn. And whomever is first might fall asleep in the tub," Katniss replied. "I have an idea. Tonight we plunge in together."

Clove really didn't have any objections to the so far novel idea. She certainly had seen Glimmer nude often enough, although usually when the other girl was underneath Cato. So she nodded and headed for the room where the tub awaited them. In fact it became a race to see who could shed their clothes and get in first.

Clove was first but Katniss grabbed the leg that hadn't quite made it in and dunked her. This turned the bath into a free for all until the weariness started to over come them both. Without even thinking about it they each scrubbed the other's back. Both laughed at the groans and moans that simple operation elicited from the other girl in turn.

In fact Katniss felt nice when Clove touched her. And it may have simply been her imagination but had Katniss's hands lingered on her back? It was all confusing and she was much too tired to think about anything like that tonight.

Still, it just seemed right that the pair dried each other off and then stumbled to bed without the bother of adding nightshirts. It just seemed right that they slid into the same bed together. And it was even more right that they held each other until they both fell asleep.

That night had remained in Clove's mind ever since then. She suspected it had been in Katniss's as well. It was almost as though neither one wanted to risk what they had for something that might have been an illusion. But although it left them both with unanswered questions it also left them both even more comfortable with each other and closer.

They had hung around for the victory celebrations and had fun. Both had found opportunities to relieve the sexual tensions that had built up not only from their growing closeness but also simply because, regardless of their chronological age, they were both vibrant young women. They neither hid those affairs from each other nor did they share much about them other than to congratulate each other when one of them staggered back in the morning with a smile on their face.

There had been no sign of Cato and the others. There were a few twinges that another Immortal was around occasionally but they never met that person.

As the parties wound down they took stock of their situation. Neither really wanted to go with the Imperial army that was driving the defeated Ottomans south. They had collected their pay as well as a very generous portion allotted them as loot from the enemy camp. Both were itching to move on.

"So where are we going?" Clove asked as they mounted their horses one bright morning. There was a tiny bit of chill in the air. Fall had set in.

"Let's go east," proposed Katniss.

"Where in the east?"

"We'll know when we get there."

(China, 1690)

"Well you were right. We got here." commented Clove.

"Uh-huh. And think how exciting and fun the journey was."

(To be continued)


	9. I have inside me blood of kings

There be Only One, Chapter 9 by patricia51

(I have inside me blood of kings)

(Damascus, 1685)

It was noon. The ancient streets echoed with the sound of the mullahs calling from the ancient minarets of the mosques. They summoned the faithful to prayer as they did the prescribed five times a day.

Katniss and Clove lingered in the shade of the outdoor eating place. Colorful dyed cloth kept them in the shade and openings in the potted shrubs around them allowed the breeze to help keep the heat of the day from them. They waited until the normal sounds of the day resumed.

Katniss stretched her legs while she sipped from the battered ceramic mug. She lowered it and sighed in satisfaction.

"It IS pretty good wine," agreed Clove, sitting across from her with her legs tucked up under her body. She sipped from her tankard. "I am rather surprised that here in the middle of a Muslim city we can get wine with so little trouble."

"It's strange," admitted Katniss, "even more so that as obvious Westerners there doesn't seem to be any real animosity towards us. There have been some strange looks but I'm pretty sure that it's because we're women out and about and dressed as we are rather than probable Christians."

Clove looked at her dusty boots, loose fitting linen trousers and a similarly cut long sleeve shirt. Her partner was dressed alike and still wearing the cap fitted with the cloth that draped down her back protecting her from the sun that Clove had doffed. "True. I'm glad that if there is some Koranic prohibition against dressing as we do no one seems interested in enforcing it. You know," she reflected, "One of the charges against Joan of Arc was that she wore male attire and look what happened to her."

"Stoning is much more these people's way of dealing with issues like that instead of burning at the stake," said Katniss. "However let's not tempt either fate. I don't know how far this 'dhimmi contract' extends." Clove nodded.

The whole thing showed how strange the world was, the English Immortal thought. Not long ago, well, by their time frame anyway, they had been witnesses to West and East, Christianity and Muslim, locked in a deadly struggle where quarter was neither given nor asked for. Now they were deep in the same Ottoman Empire that they had opposed and found that here toleration was not only the watchword but was fixed by law and custom.

The pair had been in Damascus now for several weeks, having slowly worked their way here from Vienna. They had traveled east before cutting south, circling most of the Black Sea by a series of mixed treks on horseback and short sailing trips. A final voyage had brought them out on the edge of the western half of Turkey. Based on what information they had gathered about the routes to China they had swung back to here where much of the overland traffic of the Silk Road started. Immortals or not they preferred to travel with a group.

Besides, they both enjoyed people. Neither really had thought they would. Katniss had always been a loner and Clove's family had moved from fair to fair and city to city, never settling for long. Deidre, Hugh Fitzcairn and Kyra had brought her out of her shell. And now that Clove was looking at the world through eyes other than those of her former companions who saw nothing but the next easy target or the next score that would keep them in funds for a while.

Not that Clove's past hadn't come in handy. She still grinned when she remembered the thief who stole Katniss's purse. Not that there was anything in it that the couldn't afford to lose since they kept all real valuables secreted elsewhere such as neck pouches and slits in the inside of their boot tops. But Clove had taken the theft as a challenge to her personal and professional pride. Therefore she had worked very hard, and quickly, to not only retrieve the stolen purse but to also relieve the thief of his own.

They had wandered the alleys and byways of this ancient city as well as the main thoroughfares, marveling at buildings that had been reared while the ancestors of both girls still lived in thatched huts. They strolled the colorful bazaars where goods from both east and West were offered. In their capacity as scouts against the Ottoman Army around Vienna both had learned the rudiments of Turkish and honed their skills haggling at the various booths they frequented.

Then they found the sword smiths. Sometime in the middle of the next century the art of making Damascus steel for swords would lapse and eventually be forgotten. But it was still in flower when the girls visited the city and they tarried longer than they expected in order to equip themselves with custom forged swords made of that steel, legendary for its strength and ability to hold a deadly razor sharp cutting edge.

They debated their next move. Fall was approaching and winter travel would be difficult. They had rented a house built in the traditional manner with a high-walled interior courtyard that provided them all the privacy they wanted. Although because of the age of the system the water flow was often interrupted they still had a rather sumptuous bathtub they could both relax in and often did together.

Katniss and Clove still officially considered that their relationship was that of companions and comrades. A thoughtful observer though would have seen much more to it, signaled for instance by the lack of personal space between them. They had long ago stopped being embarrassed at being nude together. In fact that same observer might have laughed at how both women looked and enjoyed the sight of the other when each was sure the other wasn't looking. Comments might be made of how they were always touching and how those touches often lingered. Most telling of all was that they usually slept together and slept close at that. But what was clear to that imaginary observer still was hidden from the girls themselves.

Although they were comfortable and happy they were both beginning to feel restless. They discussed going south to Aleppo, which was busier and had more merchant caravans. Many caravans left Damascus but the majority of them were taking pilgrims to Mecca in fulfillment of the "Hajj". They definitely would NOT be welcome on such a trip. Besides it was none of their business anyway to poke into the religious beliefs of others. They would leave that to Sir Richard Francis Burton whom they would meet a couple of hundred years later.

They ended up departing with a trading caravan that they had found employment with as guards. The caravan master had been rather dubious about hiring two women but a quick session of swordplay with the other guards had demonstrated their ability and they had been hired. There had been no need to reveal their other skills until the caravan was ambushed by a bandit gang while traversing a rocky gorge.

The first warning was when a horse suddenly reared, crying out in agony from the arrow through its chest and spilling its rider to the stony ground. More followed as archers hidden in the rocks above them loosed a stream of arrows. More attackers exploded from crevasses and rushed at the head and tail of the caravan.

There were plenty of guards. It was rare indeed that a caravan wasn't attacked more than once on the long journey. The camels and wagons carried riches. Spices from Africa, dates and other delicacies, glass from Egypt, tin from the island Clove once called home and many other expensive items represented wealth untold for the bandits of the wastelands. But caught off guard those guards could only fight back individually and were being individually surrounded and cut down.

The caravan master powerful voice rose over the chaos. He knew if he could pull his guards together into formation their heavier armor and weapons and better training could still beat the attackers back. But they needed a break. Then a scream came from somewhere above him and a body fell almost beside him. Skewered through the middle by an arrow a swift glance showed it was one of the bandits. He was still moving feebly so the caravan master thrust him through with his sword.

Another bandit toppled from the canyon top and then a third. The master looked around and spotted the source of the arrows even as yet another attacker fell. The taller of the two dark-haired, fair-skinned women he had reluctantly hired was standing on the ground beside her horse, a bow in her hands. She loosed an arrow and was rewarded by yet another falling enemy archer. Before he could blink she had rearmed her bow and fired again.

The arrows from above stopped. No surprise, after all the attackers were bandits out for loot, not soldiers so their sudden desertion was not unexpected. The guards began to rally and form a firm line to stop the attackers in their tracks. The female archer had turned her attention to the individual bandits attempting to climb in the wagons and attack the drivers, cooks and other caravaners. Then he saw a group charge her from behind and let out his best bellow to warn her but he knew it would not be in time.

Then the leader of that group of bandits dropped his cudgel and grasped his throat, where the hilt of a knife seemed to have magically appeared. Two more men toppled as the smaller woman threw with both hands at the same time with pinpoint accuracy. The remaining three were met by both women, now with swords in their hands and the resulting fight lasted no longer than the knife throwing had and with the same results. The women wiped their blades and stepped over the bodies of their foes.

By now the remaining guards had wiped out the bandits who had not taken to their heels the moment the battle turned against them. Everyone turned t the business of cleaning up, caring for the wounded and burying the dead. The dead from the caravan that is, dead bandits were stripped of anything useful and rolled into a handy ravine.

They then resumed their march. No more serious troubles affected them. By the end of the following year they had reached the city of Samarkand. Although in decline after the Uzbek rulers moved the capital of their Khanate to the city of Bukhara it was still a major stopping point on the route east. Here the caravan split. A portion was going south to India while the rest would continue to China.

"So, what do you think?" Clove asked one night.

Katniss looked around the small tavern that was attached to the hostel they had found rooms at. A bright fire blazed in one corner. Her feet on an extra chair she took a sipped of the mulled ale, or something like it anyway, and smiled.

"I think I'd like to stay right here until spring at least."

"Well," the English girl admitted. "We still have coin from our time in Austria; we have our wages from the caravan and that very nice bonus that the caravan master gave us for our efforts in the ambush. It's not like we're in a hurry. And after all, how much trouble can we get in here?"

(To be continued)


	10. I have no rival

There be Only One, Chapter 10 by patricia51

(I have no rival)

(Samarkand, 1687)

"And how much trouble can we get in after all?""

"Me and my big mouth," said Clove to herself as she barely managed to duck under a vicious cut that would have half split her in two had she remained on her feet. Or removed her head from her shoulders if she hadn't all but dropped to the ground. Using her acrobat's skills she rolled backwards, springing to her feet at the conclusion of the second roll.

"Hmmm, perhaps this will be a bit more of a challenge for you than I expected," a deep voice that she had already began to really seriously dislike said thoughtfully. "Well you need the exercise anyway. Keep practicing and when you get bored or a little tired go on and take her head."

"Okay, they are enjoying themselves way too much," the English Immortal thought as she parried two cuts and a long lunge that almost skewered her. "Time to find a way out of this."

As she backed up yet again she had three thoughts run quickly through her mind one after the other.

"How DO I get out of this? Where is Katniss?" And finally "How did I get into this mess?"

(Earlier)

"Frankly I'm beginning to think that once you have seen one ancient walled city in the mysterious east you have seen them all."

Katniss nodded her agreement. Once more the pair was comfortably seated on an oversized double chair that gave them plenty of room to sit side by side and to spare. The cushions' rather cracked leather took some wiggling to get just right and now that they had done that both were reluctant to move. Clove leaned her head against Katniss's shoulder and stared at the fire.

"It's getting on into Spring." her companion replied. "I would think we could start moving on before long. The worst of the winter storms seem to be over.

This time Clove nodded. "Anything to get out of our exercise regimen."

That had started after a couple of months of sedentary life. The pair had, as they always did when they found themselves somewhere new, thoroughly explored their temporary home. Samarkand had a great deal of history but was certainly no garden spot, especially in winter. They learned some of that history, did some trading and studied the unfamiliar Sunni branch of Islam that the Uzbeks belonged to. Then they settled into their suite of rooms and pretty much stayed there.

One morning Clove had broken the news.

"Katniss, we're getting fat and out of shape." She did a forward roll that ended with her making an unsuccessful attempt to spring up on her hands and then flip to her feet. Katniss would have laughed except she noted the growing ring around her middle, something she had never had before and something she was not pleased at all to experience. Thus began the training.

Centuries later the pair would be nestled together in a movie theater watching the very first "Rocky" when it had just come out. As they watched Sylvester Stallone running Clove would lean against Katniss and whisper "If we had only had that music back in Samarkand it would have made getting back in shape much easier."

In fact neither of the girls had ever had to set out to exercise. Their very active lives had kept them in top physical form. They were almost at a loss at how to start. There were no gyms and no workout instructors or exercise equipment. So grumbling and groaning they went to work on their own.

Since their rooms lay in the section of the city where the trading caravans paused they did find a source of exercise and training in the places the guards and some of the city's soldiers gathered. Sparring with a two hundred pound grizzled caravan guard or a young soldier certainly helped them shed the weight, regain their speed and agility and get their neglected swordsman ship back up to par. They took treks around the outside of the city and built their stamina and wind back by running. All in all they were happy with the results, although perhaps not with the efforts required.

During that recovery time both girls received numerous offers that involved a traditional exercise of long standing that took place while lying down. Neither of them questioned the other about participation in such exercise. Unknown to each other both of them had felt vaguely uncomfortable for some reason that was not acknowledged in detail by either one about engaging in that exercise. Each preferred to let their fingers do the relaxing when the tension grew a little too strong. That the vague fantasy partner each one thought of during that relaxation time might bear a striking resemblance to their partner wasn't even acknowledged consciously to themselves.

The same day that the pair had agreed they should think about heading east again Clove wandered off by herself towards the non-stop bazaar that sheltered just outside the city walls. She thought of leaving Katniss a note as the Irish girl had left early to go to the archery butts for practice, and to incidentally make a little extra money betting on herself. Clove figured she would be back before the other girl. All she planned on was getting something nice, and portable, for Katniss's upcoming birthday. After all, she reasoned, a girl only turned 158 once.

Okay so neither of them celebrated birthdays. After all this time it seemed a little pointless. But Clove wanted to get Katniss something, something that marked the closeness of their partnership. Maybe something in black silk. They could afford it. An image popped into her mind of Katniss in something made of black silk. And not very much of it. For a moment she stumbled as she forgot anything else, including where she was going.

Her attention was wrenched back to the real world as the feeling washed over her. Someone was here. Another Immortal. Was it Katniss? Then a voice that was bored and yet excited and mockingly friendly all at the same time spun her around.

"Not very impressive at all I must say. Still, perhaps she will provide a bit of amusement."

Two men were standing there, both non-descript although one seemed to be older than the other. That one was advancing while he was speaking. His sword came free in a flash.

"By the way, I am Haresh Clay and this is my apprentice John. Your name is of no importance actually so save your breath. Not that you will need it any more shortly." With that he lunged.

Clove tore her sword free barely in time to meet that lunge. Instantly she was on the defensive, giving ground quickly. After a few minutes during which she barely escaped with her head half-a-dozen times the man lowered his sword and stepped back.

"Bah. She is not even worthy of my time." He waved the younger Immortal forward. "You take her John."

Meanwhile Katniss had finished a rousing archery competition with a number of men, mostly caravan guards and most of them known to her. The last round and been a fierce one between her and a grizzled veteran of many trips across the continent. When she edged him out on the final shoot a cheer went up, mingled with groans of the ones who had bet on the man.

She had just collected her winnings and exchanged a friendly hug with the older man when a strange feeling swept over her.

"What is it Katniss?"

"I'm not sure Yusef," she replied to the veteran guard. "But something is wrong. I can feel it."

"With your companion?" The words were more of a statement than a question. Katniss jerked her head up and down and he went on. "That's not surprising. Comrades get very close and can often know when something is amiss with the other and your bond is stronger than that."

She wanted to ask him just what that last comment meant but now the feeling of unease was becoming an almost panicky feeling. "I have to go."

"I'm coming with you." Yusef set down his bow and loosened his sword. "In fact," he turned, whistled to the others and commanded "Come, there is trouble. Be ready."

Katniss just knew she was going to be embarrassed beyond belief to find that nothing was wrong with Clove when she showed up with a small army behind her. But the feeling wouldn't go away and she knew that her friend was in serious trouble. Without thinking or indeed knowing exactly where she was going she took a turn and headed out, the men at her heels with Yusef in the lead.

Clove was pretty much at the end; the end of her wits, the end of her rope and, she was pretty sure, the end of her life. She was a closer match to the younger Immortal but still not up to his skill. The only thing keeping her alive were her speed and agility and the increasing anger at the derogatory comments thrown her way by Haresh Clay. Not that anger helped her but it did keep her focused and refusing to give up.

A twinge struck her but she didn't dare to look around. Another Immortal was near. Oh God, please, don't let it be Katniss. He'll kill her. She's better than me but he is better than both of us together. And knows it damn it. She wished she could see Katniss one more time but would forego that to keep the other girl safe. Then the familiar voice was shouting.

"Get away from her you son-of-a-bitch!"

And John WAS backing up, uncertainty in his face. When he looked at his mentor Clove spared a looked behind her. Pounding up the street was Katniss, at the head of two dozen men, all armed and all looking ready. She recognized some of them, having gone with Katniss a number of times down to that part of the city where the caravans and their guards rested.

Haresh jerked his head, motioning the younger man to him. He sheathed his sword. "I suppose it's cheating but it looks like you will survive till another day. Watch out for me." They turned and were gone and the Katniss was holding her as she collapsed into the other girl's arms.

"Are you okay?" something in the Irish girl's voice and eyes made Clove even weaker in the knees than her near brush with death had done. She managed to nod.

"Katniss?"

"Yes?"

"If I ever, EVER say anything like 'how much trouble can we get in?' again I want you to smack me.

Hours later, after a bath and several stiff drinks the pair took stock of their situation. Clove had told Katniss all about Haresh and John and the other girl had shook her head in amazement.

"I'm just glad I got there in time."

"Yes exactly how DID you manage that?"

"I have no idea. I just knew you were in trouble and somehow I was able to find you."

"What do we do now?" Clove wanted to pursue her previous question in depth but was a bit scared to do so. Little did she know that Katniss felt the same way.

"I think we head for China."

"When?"

"I want to say 'tonight' but the morning will be better and hopefully we can find company."

(China, 1690)

""Well, there it is. Peking."

As it had turned out the pair had made a loop to begin with as their friend Yusef had been leaving the next day but heading towards India. So they rode along with his caravan to the northern part of that country before bidding him a fond farewell, during which they did their best, according to him anyway, to kill him with passion. Rising early they had left him sleeping with a smile on his face and resumed their journey. It had taken a long time but they had time and had crossed into China itself last year, slowly making their way to the capital. Now here they were.

"Well," Clove smiled. "Let's go see what happens in Peking."

(To be continued)

(Haresh Clay appears in Episode 5X2 "The End of Innocence".) 


	11. No man can be my equal

There be Only One, Chapter 11 by patricia51

(No man can be my equal)

(Beijing 1690)

"So exactly what did you do this time?" Katniss asked.

"Me?" Clove replied. "I haven't done anything. Much anyway. So as far as I know it's YOUR fault we're here."

"Here" was defined as a stretch of street pretty much like most other one in this sprawling city. However this one was a bit different. It was nearly empty, something really unheard of in this teaming metropolis. Of course the squad of heavily armed and ornately armored stern-faced Imperial Guards that surrounded them and marched them down that street probably accounted for the absence of anyone else.

Up till this afternoon the pair had been having a wonderful time. It was a time of awakening and expansion and activity in China. K'ang-hsi, the fourth Manchu Emperor of the Quin Dynasty had occupied the Imperial throne now for thirty years (and was to continue to do so for another thirty). Although rebellions by members of the former Ming dynasty had continued in the south of the country the central regions were enjoying a period of peace and stability such as they had not had in decades.

Art, music and literature were on the rise, encouraged by the Emperor and the Imperial Court. Commerce was in full bloom, internal and external trade filling the royal treasury year after year. And compared to the cities Katniss and Clove had visited and lived in over the last decade Beijing was a party that was never-ending.

The pair was still flush, having found little opportunity to spend their money. Indeed they had invested part of their gold in the caravan they had arrived with and received a handsome return on that. So they indulged themselves. They sampled foods of all types and the various wines and liquors that were available. They made a pact that each would keep an eye on the other to avoid too much ingestion of either food or drink. Neither wanted to have to resort to the exercise regime they had forced themselves to when their appetites out grew their clothes.

Clothes changed. Travel worn woolens and rough cloth gave way to linens and silk. They stayed with boots, but replaced their aged footwear with hand crafted ones of the finest leather. They stayed in elegant hostels rather than cheap inns.

Not that either one threw money around carelessly. Immortal or not both had come from poor, in Clove s case desperately poor, families and old habits die very hard. Both participated in the seemingly endless fairs and parades, demonstrating Katniss's skill with the bow and Clove's abilities at tumbling and knife throwing. Once again they backed themselves against all comers and usually won.

That the winnings remained "mostly" and not "always" was due to Clove's canniness. It s hard to get people to bet when they think there is no hope of winning," she advised her companion. "My father taught me that you can skin the same mark over and over IF you give him time to grow a new pelt AND allow him to win a little occasionally."

One problem they sought serious and top-flight advice on was their swords. The ones they had purchased in Damascus were of exceptional quality but several combats, including a couple of Immortal duels where the non-challenged party nearly gnawed her fingers down to the bone in fear followed by giddy relief at the partner's victory, had shown them something was wrong with the plain, cross-hilted long swords they had crafted for them.

A visit to several different schools of sword fighting and crafting led them to one in particular that they would later find out was run by a retired Imperial Guard and usually frequented by members of that elite group. The master watched the pair practice for two weeks before rendering his verdict.

"The metal of your swords is superior but they were not crafted for your hands," the still fit elderly Manchu told them sternly. "Your sword," he pointed at Clove, "is too heavy and long for you and yours," this time Katniss was on the receiving end of his comments, "is not balance for your height and reach.

There was a waiting period when new blades were crafted for them. For Katniss the choice was the yanmao dao, or "goose-quill saber. Generally straight with a slight curve near the tip it was strong, balance perfectly for her and could be used for both slashing as well as thrusting. Clove was presented with a duan dao or "short dao". Similar in design of the liuye dao, the "willow leaf saber." it was a cut down version of the most common form of Chinese saber which was the standard sword for both Chinese cavalry and infantry.

Because weapons training was an integral part of many forms the girls became interested in the Chinese martial arts. Clove particularly took to the unarmed combat, her training as an acrobat serving her well in learning the basic moves. Katniss had a little more trouble but persevered and the girls often trained together at the home they had rented. They had fun and it certainly was good exercise.

Once again the ancient sport of exercise in a prone (among many others) position was offered to both of them on a very regular basis. The Chinese men were quite fascinated by the girls. They received a number of offers, some polite and many more blatant. They could have made a fine living as sex partners for hire or even have been kept women by entranced rich men. None of it was appealing and the offers were refused, politely with a smile when possible, forcefully when politeness didn't work.

Some of the men were quite appealing; strong, handsome and nice. But neither Clove nor Katniss felt really attracted to any of them. It was impossible to put into words, nearly impossible to frame the thoughts, but both of them kept themselves celibate because they didn't want the other to be "uncomfortable". Neither one of them spoke of it or they might have realized that "uncomfortable" was taking the place of "jealous".

That unseen observer might have rolled his or her eyes and sighed in loud exasperation at the inability of both women to acknowledge what was really going on. Fortunately someone was about to step in and figuratively bang heads together, even more so when that person found out how the day had begun.

Of course the day's beginning was the after effect of the night before. And the night before had been the start of the Chinese New year and all the celebrations that it involved. There had been parades and fireworks and parties until the wee hours of the morning. And all of those had involved two Immortal girls.

"Come ON Katniss," Clove had chided her friend who had made vague noises about an early night of it. "Life can't all be practice and swords and archery and preparation for the next duel. What good is it to live forever if we don't enjoy it?"

Actually Katniss hadn't needed THAT much convincing. The pair enjoyed themselves all night long, awakening well after the sun rose. Quite a long time after the sun rose in fact. But it wasn't the hour of their rising that surprised them.

(Earlier)

Katniss managed to pry open one eye. Their bedroom had woven shades covering the not very abundant windows but the light still was too much. She closed it again and concentrated more on her pounding headache. After a deep breath or twenty she decided her raging thirst was more important than lying here half cold and half warm. This time she got both eyes open.

So that was why she was cold in places. She was nude. And that was why she was warm in other places. It was because she was tangled up with another nude body. It was a nice body, smooth and slender and firm and...

"Oh God."

The tousled head beside her lifted up, blinking sleepily. "What is it Katniss?" Clove's eyes popped wide open as she took in the exact same picture that had caused the other girl to cry out.

For a moment nothing happened. Both girls searched their admitted foggy memories, each trying to remember exactly how and why they had ended up in bed together sans clothes. Had something happened? Besides the copious amounts of wine of course.

Katniss and Clove often slept in the same bed. After all, out on the trails they had wandered it was cold at night and much warmer when two blanket rolls were put together and shared. Besides, they both felt more comfortable when the other was close at hand. But they didn't sleep together nude. Or had it been more than just sleeping? And how would they tell? While both were quite familiar with how the morning after sex with a guy felt this was completely new.

So as they had been doing the pair acted as though nothing was going on. Somewhat awkwardly they got out of bed and got dressed. They avoided eye contact as they did but both kept sneaking glances at each other's bodies.

Clove had seen Katniss nude before of course but never like this. "God, she's beautiful," she thought, not knowing that Katniss was making the exact same appraisal as her and coming to the same conclusion

Now dressed they staggered to the kitchen area where their hired cook prepared a meal. After all but inhaling it and drinking several strong cups of tea they felt they would survive.

It was then that the group of Imperial Guardsman had entered their house, brushing past servants and ordered the two girls to come with them. Not really wanting to argue the situation with ten capable, hard-bitten soldiers who were not answering questions the pair did as they were told.

To their surprise they were taken directly to the Forbidden City. "Well it s a chance to see it," muttered Katniss s they passed through the Outer Court. "Yes but are we going to be around to tell anyone about it?" returned Clove as they were guided deeper and deeper into the palace complex, entering the Inner Court.

That worry was reinforced shortly as they both felt the presence of another Immortal. "Hope we're not being led to execution," whispered Katniss. Clove nodded. By the time they were shown through a doorway the two of them were tightly holding hands.

To their surprise the guards did not enter the small enclosed courtyard with them. Also to their surprise the small figure that stood up from the low stone ring surrounding a fountain in the middle of the courtyard was only armed with a smile. And to Clove's surprise Katniss ran forward, dragging her along, with a shout of happiness. The red-head flung her arms around Katniss and hugged her close, incidentally including Clove as well.

"Oh God I've missed you!" Katniss seemed as though she was about to cry.

Clove felt as though someone had stabbed her. It took a moment to sort out that what she was feeling was jealousy; that she was jealous of this red-head Immortal. That was ridiculous wasn't it? Of course it was. Of course it wasn't. Katniss was HERS.

Before her runaway thoughts could spur any action Katniss let go of the other girl, wiped her eyes and grabbed Clove again.

"Deirdre I want you to meet Clove. Clove Honor this is my mentor Deirdre O'Connor."

Clove turned red, something she hoped was not picked up as the older Irish Immortal hugged her as well. Deirdre then proceeded to get them all seated around the fountain with Katniss between them. Clove listened and relaxed as the two other women almost babbled as they talked at the same time.

"How have you been? Where have you been?"

"What have you been up to?"

"You just missed Duncan. He was here no more than ten years ago."

"You just left Paris not two years before I got there from Italy."

Katniss told of their recent adventures and how they had come to be here and Deirdre told how she became a tutor for the Emperor's children "And how many there are you just wouldn't believe. What a horny old and prolific goat he is. My father never dreamed of anything like this. which reminded Clove that Deirdre was the daughter of the last King of Ireland. Finally the two came up for air. Deirdre laughed.

"Clove I'm so sorry. We all but excluded you but it's been a century or more now since we've seen each other. I want to hear about you now. When did you two meet and how long have you been together?"

With interjections from Katniss Clove began to tell about their meetings and how she had split from her former allies. She talked a little about her origins and then more about how she and Katniss became partners. When she finished Deidre clapped her hands in delight.

"That's wonderful. So how long have you been together?"

Slightly puzzled Clove mentioned Vienna again.

"No, not how long since you met. How long before you two became a couple?"

Katniss and Clove sat there with their mouths open. The pose was copied by Deirdre moments later.

"Oh for heaven's sake!" the older Immortal exclaimed. "A blind person could see that you two love each other! And yet you've never told each other? I can't believe it."

(To be continued) 


	12. Take me to the future of you all

There Can be Only One, Chapter 12 by patricia51

(Take me to the future of you all)

(Beijing 1690)

"Oh for heaven's sake!" the older Immortal exclaimed. "A blind person could see that you two love each other! And yet you've never told each other? I can't believe it."

Katniss and Clove stared at Deirdre. Then as though some invisible string connected them their heads turned toward each other then back to the .

"But, but, BUT," sputtered Katniss.

"You mean, that is, what you're saying," stammered Clove.

"I never, that is it's not, we're friends but," contributed Katniss.

"But she's a GIRL," Clove produced the trump card.

"Oh for heaven's sake," muttered Deirdre. "And to think I believed I was getting a break from instructing children." She stood, paced back and forth a few times and turned to face the girls.

"There certainly are times that I think I have learned very little over the centuries. I'm better with a sword and I hope all the practice has made my singing and playing better. However one thing I feel confident I've grasped and that's the ability to spot love when I see it. Often," she grinned, "when I'm looking at a reflection of myself. But I feel that being a romantic and tending to lose my heart is anything but a liability."

"Katniss my dear I've not seen you in over a hundred years. But I've known you since you were a child and I've been there when your soul was open; when you were in deepest pain and when you were giddy in happiness. And I've never seen you so alive."

She turned her attention to the other girl. "Clove I don't know you at all. But I don't need to. What I've seen already today lets me know what kind of person you are and how you feel about Katniss."

Deirdre's face grew wistful. "Immortals can't have children; neither sire them nor bear them. Perhaps that's for the best, after all, what if they were not immortal? It's hard enough sometimes watching friends and lovers age day by day, year by year, while you remain the same. How much harder would it be to see your children grow old and die?"

"Having said that I believe I would take that chance but the choice isn't up to me. So I compensate. I care for others' children and I have had the opportunity to be a step-mother and experienced the joys and the sadness that comes with it. But in a very real sense I've had one daughter. That's you Katniss."

"I know," the younger Irish girl said softly.

"I've watch you grown up. Of course your body didn't age but from a frightened teen you have become a beautiful, self assured and capable young woman. You explored your sexuality slowly and had fun but I never saw fall in love. Not until now."

Katniss sat quietly for a moment, gathering her thoughts.

"Deirdre, I understand what you are saying and heaven knows I agree with almost all of it. Since the day you found me you have cared for me and raised me and given me my life back. Even when we both knew it was time for me to go out in the world on my own it was hard to leave you because yes, you had become not only my mentor but my mother. And I love you for all of that. But really Deirdre, you're wrong about Clove and I being in love. Sure we're close but we're companions and partners, not lovers."

Clove nodded. "Besides, we're both girls," she repeated her previous protest.

"Stuff and nonsense," responded Deirdre. "Love is love, regardless of your sex. For me, well, it's always been men. It's just the way I am. From what I've seen of Katniss's romantic encounters before, well, she likes men but that has nothing to do with whom she has fallen in love with. And Clove I suspect you are the same."

She held up a hand. "Regardless. Let me tell you that the moment you two walked in the room I knew you were in love. Above and beyond the fact that you were tightly holding hands it was the looks you were giving each other. What I saw in your eyes gave it right away. You both were worried, insure about whom you were about to meet. Had you been led into some kind of trap? And do you know what else I saw? I saw determination in both of you, a preparedness to act. You looked at each other and you both might have well shouted 'As long as SHE makes it out'."

"And Clove sweetheart the jealousy on your face when Katniss ran to me before you found out who I was could not have been more of a give away. But the biggest one of those is the fact that the pair of you has been sitting there protesting that what I see is mistaken and yet at the same time you're STILL holding hands."

Deirdre had to sternly tell herself NOT to break out in gales of laughter. This was too important a moment for the girl she thought of as a daughter and the girl she had fallen in love with. But it was so hard NOT to laugh as the two heads swiveled once again in unison. First they looked down, examining their hands as though the interlaced fingers belonged to strangers or had somehow gained minds of their own. Then they looked up at each other, holding that gaze for a long time. Finally they looked back at me. Surprise mingled with the happy realization that what I said was true was painted all over both faces.

Clove was the first to speak as Katniss seemed dazed.

"I'll... be... damned."

"Not for falling in love," Deirdre said reasonably. She decided it was time to let the pair process what she had told them. Besides, the servant by the door was gesturing to her, indicating it was time for her to take up her duties. She nodded minutely at the woman and then gestured to the guard who had remained discreetly by the door the two girls had been escorted in through.

"I'm about to be invaded by the day's class. Today's lessons involve mostly geography and a little music." She produced a carrier and removed the small harp that Katniss remembered so well. "The Guardsman there will escort you back to your house. You probably need a little rest and time to think. But if you would return here this evening we could have supper together and catch up on all that has happened in our lives, separately and you two together. He," she nodded toward the soldier who approached, "will come get you again at dusk if that would be agreeable. You do have to be escorted to enter the palace at all much less come here, the area that houses the Imperial family."

"We'll be happy to come back," replied Katniss after looking at Clove and receiving a nod.

The soldier held open the door for them. As they left Clove looked back over her shoulder and smiled. What appeared to be at least a dozen children were pouring into the room they had just left, most of the running right to Deirdre who almost disappeared under their little bodies as they flocked to her. After the door was shut and the Guard took the lead both girls heard the harp being played softly and Deirdre's voice talking although they could not make out the words.

The journey home was silent, both girls lost in their thoughts. At the door to their home the Guardsman bowed and reminded them he would return later to take them back to the palace. Katniss thanked him, being better at Mandarin Chinese than Clove. The English girl had learned the language from a couple of caravan guards originally from Shanghai and therefore was better in Wu Chinese.

The subject of their facility for languages had often been a source of teasing and joking between them. Both had the ability to pick up other tongues but for some reason it rarely seemed that they both reached the same level of proficiency in the same language. Other than English (and Clove teased Katniss often that sometimes she could barely understand her and Katniss always shot back that she wasn't supposed to speak English she was supposed to speak Gaelic) the only language they shared fluency in was French.

But today joking was the last thing on their minds. To be truthful above and beyond Deirdre's blunt announcement and the dawning realization that she was absolutely right both of them were still suffering from hangovers that were becoming worse instead of better. So without much discussion they agreed on a nap.

They were still thinking when they roused themselves, bathed and dressed to return to the palace. Their escort arrived promptly on schedule and they followed him back to the area they hade met Deirdre in before. The older Immortal was waiting with a smile and a feast.

The rest having done much to ease their headaches Katniss and Clove dug in to the food. Instead of wine there was lots of strong sweet tea. Once everyone's appetites had been satisfied they relaxed, nibbling and sipping and caught up on recent history. Katniss and Clove told of their meetings, Clove admitting freely her running with Cato and his crowd and how she came to leave him and partner with Katniss. They told of their journey here, touching upon Clove's duel with Haresh Clay. Deirdre frowned.

"I have heard of him. Duncan crossed paths with him before and tells me he is one of the most dangerous Immortals there is. Be careful dear, his ego and anger are as towering as his skills. He will not forget."

Her turn having arrived the Irish bard told of her travels throughout the East and how she came to be one of the tutors and guards for the Imperial children, whom she clearly loved. She told a frightening tale of an assassination attempt on some of the children. She admitted she had lost her awareness of her surroundings in her frantic rush to save them and how only the presence of Duncan had kept her from losing her head to one of the assassins.

"It would have been purely by accident of course. They weren't Immortals. But I would still have been just as dead had he not parried the sword swing intended to remove my head."

The trio continued to talk, relaxing and letting the conversation go where it would. Deirdre confessed that as much as she had loved it here it was getting about time to move on. She had been there nearly twenty years and soon explanations would be demanded as to why she didn't seem to be getting older. Already there had been looks but she had forestalled most inquiries by having a huge amount of lotions, potions and make-up scattered around her living quarters.

"Still, it's time." Deirdre sounded wistful. "I'll miss the children but I've already seen so many of them grow up that it will just be happy memories before long." She shook her head. "Never mind. What about you two? Did you talk I hope?"

Katniss and Clove looked at each other and smiled.

"We didn't need to," said the former. "When we got back to our house we were so tired and yes, still hung over from last night. We took a nap. When we got up we realized that, as usual, we had simply got undressed, got into bed together, slept and woken in each other's arms. Everything else was obvious now that you pointed it out."

"Including," Clove said dreamily, "The bath we took. Together." Her eyes danced and Katniss blushed in front of her old teacher. "Not that we haven't done that before but never like THAT one."

Deirdre laughed. She rose from the low table they were seated around. Walking around she knelt between the two girls and wrapped an arm around each and hugged.

"Good for you. Keep it up."

"Oh we will," a beaming Katniss, as happy as Deirdre had ever seen her, replied. "Well always be together."

(To be continued)


	13. Born to be kings, princes of the univers

There Can be Only One, Chapter 13 by patricia51

(Born to be kings, princes of the universe)

(West Coast of Africa, 1737)

Katniss squatted on her heels and waited. There was no hurry. Nothing else called her. All she could do was wait. She did wonder how long it would take. She dismissed the thought. It would take as long as it took. She had plenty to occupy her mind.

Shortly, as in just a few years, after their meeting with Deirdre the older Immortal had left Beijing. She had spent the last night with them at their house but slipped away before dawn, leaving a message that she was planning on seeing if she couldn't find a way to visit Japan. If that didn't work she expected that sooner or later she would travel back to Europe. She was sure they would meet again. If they made it to Paris they should be sure to watch out for her.

The ending of the message made them both smile and hold each other.

"If Katniss is my daughter and I firmly feel that way than you Clove are my daughter-in-law. I love you both very much and thoughts of you both will keep me warm wherever I go."

A few years after that the girls had themselves moved, shifting their residence to Shanghai. They enjoyed it there but Clove's temper got her cross-ways with one of the city's growing secret societies, eventually to become the Triads. Although there did not seem to be any Immortals involved the growing number of hatchet wielding men who kept popping up threatened to outnumber the quantity of knives that even Clove could carry. So they moved. After all, they would have had to do that sooner or later anyway.

They had learned. Although they never stinted on comfortable furnishings or good clothes they kept the majority of their wealth in concentrated and easily carried and concealed form. Everything else could be left at an hour's notice. And it was.

The change was good for them. Not that they had let themselves slip like they had once before. Certainly they had started going to bed early and staying in bed late as the opportunity arose but it wasn't as though they spent all that time sleeping. And if that kind of exercise wasn't quite a strengthening as most others it kept a smile on their faces.

They swapped the silks and linens for cotton and wool and leather, slippers and sandals for boots. Rickshaws and carriages were replaced by horse and saddles. Katniss was grateful to discover she didn't have to learn to ride all over again, although there were a few falls and more than a few sore muscles as her body grew accustomed to riding again. Clove had the same aches and pains but they were there for each other to massage those away at night. Or in the morning. Or the middle of the day. Now that they had admitted their feelings one major result was that they couldn't keep their hands off each other.

They traveled south, following the coastal roads and trails. They left China behind to explore the area that would one day be known as Southeast Asia and the various kingdoms that existed there.

Following the travelers' tales and stories they had picked up along the way they passed through Dai Viet first and then Champa, following the coast until they entered the Khmer Empire and settled for a while there. They found themselves irresistibly drawn to that country's ancient capitol of Angkor, already mostly deserted and falling into ruin but full of monuments and wall frescoes and the soaring remnants of past glory. It especially touched the dreaming nature of Katniss's Irish soul.

They continued on and entered the Kingdom of Ayutthaya. At times a crazy patchwork of near independent provinces and princedoms it was still a vibrant culture, its long series of conflicts with the Burmese in abeyance then. The kingdom functioned as a trading center, cargos and carriers came from east and west. Shipments for China, India, Java, Sumatra and many other places including the Arab world came through the kingdom.

One surprise was the number of Europeans that lived and traded there. The majority were Portuguese, drawn there by the spice trade but there were also French, English, Dutch and even occasional Spanish traders, merchants and ships. Katniss was a bit dubious, remembering her first sea trip but to her surprise her sea-sickness never returned when she and Clove voyaged as hired guards on a trading venture to the Maluku Islands on a Dutch trading vessel. Known for generations as the Spice Islands the fierce competition between the various European nations was only matched in danger but the assorted native pirates that infested the waters.

The trip was successful enough that they repeated it several times. As was usual in this kind of venture they signed on for shares of the profits. They earned their share helping to repel more than one attack, twice by pirates and once by a rival trader. Muskets and cannons were the deciding factors in those fights but Katniss was to continue to demonstrate her mastery of the bow.

Another danger not faced by their male counterparts was the idea that some crewmen and even officers had that they were aboard ship as some sort of entertainment available for when the stress of a generally all male environment became a little too much. The girls' training in martial arts, swordsmanship and above all Clove's ability with her knives discouraged all of the too ardent suitors without causing any permanent injuries.

After several voyages the pair had accumulated a fair amount of money, above and beyond the portable wealth they carried with them from China and kept concealed. They had also noted that the farther a voyage went from the Maluka's the greater the value of the spices. They pooled their earnings and purchased a larger share in an English owned vessel that would sail to India.

"And from there?" asked Clove thoughtfully.

"Well," replied Katniss. "We've not explored India yet." A picture leaped into her mind of the green softly rolling hills of Killarney and she was struck by homesickness such as she hadn't felt in over a century.

"Or we could go home," finished Clove, sensitive as she was to her lover's feelings and the faraway look in her eyes. Not that she recalled London with any real longing but she did remember traveling through England, especially in the spring and setting up camp in the woods and outside of the small towns and being happy then.

"So it's settled then."

Of course it wasn't that simple. India had fascinated them. It would be two decades before the Battle of Plassey and the rise of the British East India Company to control the subcontinent. In the meantime the independent Indian princes ruled their sections of a tumultuous and fascinating country. It was several years before the pair took ship back to Europe and when they did rather than work their passage they had accumulated the funds to return as investors and passengers.

"Think of it," Clove whispered the first night in their spacious and airy cabin; her eyes twinkling and her nimble fingers dancing over Katniss, relieving her beloved of her clothes. "Nothing to do but relax and spend time with each other." The pair fell to the one bed in the cabin and Katniss's replies were vocal, if not intelligible.

Even when being "Ladies of Leisure" began to pall on them they continued to enjoy the voyage. The other passengers were a mixed lot of upper class English and Company administrators but all had done this trip before and came provided against the boredom that set in after a while. Card games, long discussions and even a ship's newspaper kept all busy. Clove became fascinated by the ship's navigation and how it compared with what they had learned crossing the long Silk Road and its lack of signposts. Katniss fell in with a couple of closet naturalists and spent hours studying the various forms of marine life as well as reading about them from the couple's library. And of course the pair never lost their attraction to each other or the inventive ways they thought of to show it.

They had rounded the Cape of Good Hope and sailed up the west coast. It was as they passed the bulging northwest of the continent that the storm hit them. Black clouds turned the late summer afternoon into night. The crew frantically furled the sails, the building winds threatening to tear both sails and men from the masts. Passengers were rushed below as the rain struck in blinding sheets, reducing the world to the ship and no more than a few feet in any direction around her.

In their cabin Katniss and Clove held each other tightly. They had thrown off their dresses and corsets and fancy shoes to don their well worn trail clothes of pants, boots and loose shirts with jackets. It was well they had for there wasn't the slightest warning from the deck when the ship slammed into a reef and torn itself open. The violence of the wreck tore the girls from each other and threw both of them into the wild ocean.

It could have been hours or it could have been days before Katniss awoke, coughing the last of the seawater from her lungs. She had no idea. She was stretched out on the sand, a retreating tide still lapping at her legs. Blue skies and puffy clouds showed the storm was over. She managed to crawl up the beach to the shade of the trees and fell asleep for hours. It was dusk when she sat up and began to take stock of her situation.

She had the clothes she was wearing. In the top of one boot the hilt of a dagger still showed. A quick check of the other boot proved the slit inside that held several gold pieces had not been touched. Her purse was still attached to her belt and since that was undisturbed it was no surprise that the hidden gems sewn into the seams of her pants and shirt were still there. Finally, but perhaps most importantly, her sword was still there, slung across her back.

However she had no food, no water and no way to carry water if she found it. She must have been carried some way by the storm for there was not the slightest trace of the wreck or anyone from it. Most important there was no sign of Clove nor was there any feeling that the other Immortal was any where near.

Well lying here wasn't getting anything done. She squinted at the setting sun. North or South? Remembering Clove commenting on their position the answer was north. It was a very long way to the southern tip of Africa. Surely there would be trading outposts for ivory, feathers and although she hated the very idea of it, slaves, somewhere along the coast.

As it turned out before she found any European outposts she found something else. Several something elses. That they were spear points aimed directly at her meant that the discovery was not particularly pleasant. She tensed to try to draw her sword when a sharp command that amazingly she vaguely understood caused those spears to be cautiously lowered.

Katniss found that she could follow portions of the discussion that followed. She realized that the language being spoken seemed to have a number of Portuguese words in it. Although not fluent in that tongue she had learned a good bit of it. Summoning what she remembered she haltingly began to converse with the group.

Eventually she was to discover the language was known as Kriol; a mixture of Portuguese and native dialects. She found that she was among friends, from a village that traded with the Portuguese sailors on a routine basis. They had intercepted her at first fearing that she was a scout for the slavers that sometimes swooped down on the coast to carry off young men and women. Reassured by her explanations they invited her to stay with them until the next trading vessel arrived.

Katniss had heard stories that the black people of Africa were all cannibals and such but then she had heard tales of the people of China, India and other countries that turned out to be nothing more than traveler's tales. So it was with her new friends. Within days she had settled in comfortably with them and was enjoying herself.

She hunted with them, showing off her skill with the bow and her ability to stalk game. She fished with them, learned their cooking and above all listened to their songs and their tales around the fires at night.

Perhaps it was her father's influence coming out. Perhaps it was Deirdre's. Whatever it was she began to tell the stories of her homeland to her friends. She told the tales of Fionn mac Cumhaill, his son the poet Oisan, his son Oscar and the Fianna; the warriors who sleep in the hollow hills waiting for the hour of Ireland s utmost need. She told of Cuchulainn and the Red Branch Knights and most poignant of all; the tale of Deirdre of the Sorrows.

By now Katniss had been offered accommodations with pretty much every place in the village, including the chief's and his oldest son's places. The overtures that went with some of those invitations were obvious but all concerned accepted Katniss's polite refusals when she explained she was already taken. She didn't see the need to get into every detail about Clove.

For reasons she kept to herself Katniss had elected to stay with a wonderful family consisting of a husband and a single wife and their seven children. She more than kept her keep. She also seriously debated what to do when the expected trading ship arrived. Should she tell the secret she had discovered? To whom? How would they, whoever "they" turned out to be, take it? But she couldn't just leave; she most likely would never be back.

The question was taken out of her hands on that horrible night. She awoke to the sound of screams and the smell of smoke. Clad only in a shift she had made herself, her boots and her sword she had charged out of her shared room and into the nightmare. Slavers had struck.

She fought. More than one man fell before her blade. She struggled to reach the chief to help him form a core of resistance only to see him fall. She reversed her course, hoping to help the couple get their children into the woods and safety. But she saw the building go up on flames as two swordsman attacked her. She was making mincemeat of both of them when a third attacker shot her through the heart with a musket.

When she returned to life the only signs of activity around her were the waddling and gorged vultures. She staggered to her feet. Her sword was gone but she still had her boots. She chased the flying feeders away and surveyed her surroundings. Only the dead were there. Apparently the slavers had carried everyone else off. They had also left their own dead she noted, pausing probably only long enough to loot them.

In the half-burned ruins of the building she had lived in she found her clothes, smoke-damaged but still wearable. She dressed and began the weary task of gathering the slain. She laid them all in the chief's hut and when the task was accomplished she set fire to it. The bodies of the slavers she dumped in a ravine. Let the birds and beasts feed on them.

This left only her and the girl she had been keeping an eye on. Although it wasn't needed really she cleaned the sword cuts that had killed her. Then she waited until the first movements began.

"Come on Rue. It's time to wake up."

(To be continued) 


	14. Fighting and free

There Can be Only One, Chapter 14 by patricia51

(Fighting and free)

(Note: If you feel that I rather abruptly left Katniss and Rue after the end of the last chapter I really do have reasons for switching to Clove and what is happening to her.)

(Dover, England 1738)

The clash of steel could be heard a long way. Such a long way that Clove Honor heard it long before her senses picked up the presence of another Immortal. In fact, she realized, she was sensing two of them. Her horse was moving only at a slow walk so it was easy for her to rein in and watch the fight from behind the concealing trunk and branches of an ancient oak tree.

The petite English Immortal frowned. This didn't look right. That the two men fighting were Immortals she had no doubt but there were witnesses. An older woman with a young man, obviously her son, the driver of the coach that was stopped on the side of the road were exactly three too many witnesses for a Quickening. And there could be more spectators in the coach she couldn't see.

As she watched the taller man suddenly executed a maneuver that blurred it was so fast. The other's sword went flying and Clove tensed. But rather than take his opponent's head the victor lowered his sword and gestured. His face cold in anger the loser mounted a horse that grazed on the far side of the road and spurred it. His direction went away from the coach and away from Clove herself. The remaining Immortal scooped up the fallen sword and the trio mounted back into the coach, which then headed towards her.

Moved by a sudden impulse Clove turned her horse around and trotted ahead. She looked at the sky. Evening was beginning to draw near and she expected the coach would stop at the inn she had passed not an hour before. It would be a good place to meet this Immortal who had pricked her curiosity. After all, she didn't have any place in particular she needed to be or...

A wave of sadness passed over her. Or any one to meet was how that thought finished. She understood now what Deirdre had said about love and loss. She missed Katniss dreadfully. Of course the Irish Immortal girl was, hopefully; still alive somewhere but the world was a big place to find one person, even if that person held her heart.

Lost in her thoughts Clove was surprised when suddenly she looked up to see she was at the inn. She dismounted and allowed a hostler to take her horse to the barn. Going inside the inn itself she took a room for the night, taking her sparse baggage up to it and putting it on the bed.

Should she take her sword? She decided she wouldn't need it. If the man had refrained from killing on the road he probably wouldn't try to take her head in front of the crowd of witnesses she had seen already gathering in the dining room. However she tucked a knife behind her belt concealed by her loose flowing top and checked to make sure the other one already in the boot sheath was still there. No need to be reckless she thought.

The clop-clop of the coach's team of horses reached her ears as the sensation of the other Immortal's nearing came over her. She waited at the corner table she had chosen, two jacks of ale sitting on the table top.

The door opened and the young man and his mother entered, followed by two other travelers, both dressed in the garb of fairly prosperous city dwellers. So there were more witnesses Clove thought. Finally a tall handsome man stepped through the door, hand casually resting on the hilt of his sword. His piercing gaze took in the room in an instant and settled on Clove. He lifted an eyebrow in question. She nodded and gestured towards the waiting ale.

Long legs covered the room in a moment. He bowed and took the offered seat.

"I am Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod," he announced in greeting. He picked up the offered jack of ale and tipped it in salute to Clove.

"Oh my." Clove said in surprise. "YOU are Duncan MacLeod. From the descriptions I've been given I would have thought you would be eight feet tall and capable of breathing fire and possibly flying. Oh and I am Clove Honor by the way."

Duncan noted the twinkle in the girl's eyes and smiled. "I'm sorry not to live up to your expectations."

"Perhaps it's just as well," Clove replied. "I met another MacLeod and the memory is not one of my favorites although I hasten to add that the unpleasantness was completely the doing of me and my former friends and not Connor."

Duncan laughed. "Understandable. Connor has a limited sense of humor at the best of times and even less when threatened. But tell me who it is that has been whispering strange conceits about me?"

"Deirdre O'Connor and Katniss Everdeen."

"Really! Deirdre I have known for a long time. She is one of my favorite people and the world is a better place with her in it. Katniss I don't know as well but she is a charming young lady and I have very happy memories of them both." Duncan paused and studied the younger Immortal. "I see you feel that way too."

Clove looked surprised. "Am I that obvious?"

"Perhaps. But I have lost loved ones before as well. It leaves its mark, especially when the loss is fresh."

"I don't know that she's gone for good." Clove went on to explain how the two girls had been parted. "It probably sounds ridiculous but somehow I just believe that I would know somehow if she was dead."

"I never underestimate the power of things we can't see but only feel," Duncan replied reassuringly. A grin crossed his face. "As I recall she was a very lively young woman and I see you are as well. I hope for both your sakes that she is alright and that the two of you will find each other."

Clove laughed musically. "Katniss DID warn me about you and about a certain Hugh Fitzcairn. She said a few charming smiles and either of you would talk me right out of my clothes and into your bed in short order." As Duncan opened his mouth to protest she held up her hand. "Let me first add that she also told me if that ever happened that the results would be very pleasing and would leave a smile on my face for quite a while."

Duncan laughed as well. "I would be delighted to try to live up to my reputation however I never make a pass at a friend's lover or at someone whose heart is so obviously taken. Well," he grinned with delight, "that caveat doesn't apply to anyone Fitz is chasing of course but that's just for fun."

"Of course," Clove agreed with a smile.

Having disposed of that the pair settled down to really get to know each other. They swapped experiences and strange places visited, some of which were familiar to each other. Duncan mentioned that he had traveled to China via the northern route and had an encounter with an Immortal Cossack that nearly cost him his head. They talked about their shared friends and how Clove had left her former companions for Katniss.

"I didn't know at the time that I was attracted to her," the English girl admitted. "I just knew I preferred being with her and sharing her life and adventures to the rather grim routine I was locked in with Cato and the others. It took Deirdre to wake us both up to see what we were hiding even from ourselves."

"She's very good at that."

The pair drank, ate a surprisingly excellent supper and drank more. They moved from the dining area to the drinking room proper where they took a secluded pair of chairs near the fire and continued to learn more about each other. When they decided to call it a night it was very late and Clove's head spun when she stood up.

"I think," she said, carefully enunciating her words, "that I should have skipped the last round."

Duncan nodded. Once. Any more head bobs and he wasn't sure he could keep his already precarious balance. Definitely a bow was out of the question. He was just as careful as Clove had been when he spoke.

"May I escort you to your room Lady Clove?"

"Thank you Sir Duncan. It would be most appreciated." Clove replied. She considered making a curtsy but decided against it. First of all trousers didn't curtsy well and second was the knowledge if she started dipping she wouldn't stop until she ended on the floor.

Between the two of them they made it to Clove's room. And they were still there when the sun rose and the light streaming through the curtain less window woke them both. Clove stirred, stretched and then started to snuggled when she realized just who was in bed with her. She jerked upright, clutching the bed clothes around her.

Duncan opened one eye slightly. "Clove if you will stop trying to cover up and peek under all that stuff you are trying to hide under you will see that all you are missing are your boots and the knife you had tucked in your waistband."

The English girl ducked under the covers. When she came back up she was blushing.

"I'm sorry Duncan."

"You should know better. Surely you know Deirdre and Katniss well enough to know that the men they call friends would never take advantage of a drunken woman, especially a friend." A happy, dreamy look spread across his face. "And I certainly would never spoil the very pleasant memories I have of either of them by acting like you were worried about."

"I know. It's just that the quality of men I spent most of my time with before Katniss weren't up to your standard."

"It's alright." Duncan kissed Clove on top of her head. "You still have to be careful. The next smiling friendly face could hide someone just itching to take your head as soon as your back is turned." He threw back the covers that Clove had dumped mostly on top of him and swung his legs out of the bed. "For now we should get going before we end up paying for this room for another day."

Just as he reached for his boots the bed shifted. A pair of arms circled him from behind. From her position kneeling behind him Clove spoke hesitantly.

"Duncan until I fell in love with Katniss I had never... I mean no one ever made me feel like she does. We said we'd be together forever or at least until the gathering. But we knew we might be separated by one means or another."

She hesitated. "Deirdre told me that love isn't finite. Once that I fell for Katniss and my heart opened she told me that there would be lots of room for others. It shows in her as you well know."

Duncan smiled in fond memory. "I know." He covered her hands with his own.

"Not that I'm saying I'm in love with you," Clove hastily added, to the accompaniment of a chuckle from Duncan," but I like you. A lot. I think we've already become friends. I've been very lonely and I don't want this to end so soon."

"Besides," and even without looking Duncan knew there was an impish grin on the girl's face, "I've heard some really good things from both Katniss and Deirdre. And Katniss has always urged me to try new things; especially ones that she raves are really good. Unless of course you are too much of a gentleman for an invitation by the friend of a friend."

Duncan turned and kissed her. "I try to be a gentleman but I'm not stupid about it." They fell back on the bed.

They ended up renting the room for three more days. On the last afternoon they stood together in the courtyard of the inn as Duncan's baggage was loaded back into a different coach.

"I'm heading back to Scotland, to my home," he had told her. "Speaking of that may I make a suggestion?"

"Of course."

"You won't find Katniss tearing about all over the world. You could pass just out of range of each other a dozen times and never know it. I suggest you go to someplace that you know sooner or later she will come to and wait."

"Where? Vienna?"

"I was thinking of Ireland. No matter how far I roam I always find myself drawn back to the Highlands. Go to Kildare and settle there. She'll come one day."

The coachman cleared his throat. Duncan and Clove exchanged a deep embrace and a kiss. Then he was gone. She mounted her horse and turned west.

"Ireland here I come."

(To be continued)

(Note: The date of Duncan's first duel with Walter Reinhardt in the episode 1X8 "Revenge is Sweet" is 1728. I moved it 10 years latter to better match with Clove's travels after she and Katniss are parted by the shipwreck. And Duncan's timeline doesn't show anything else until 1746 when he is fighting with the Scottish clans against the English.)


End file.
